Kingdom Hearts Generations: Rise of the Fifteenth
by WeepingAngelXIII
Summary: Twenty years after the death of Xemnas, and the Organisation is beginning to reform...
1. Chapter I: A New Beginning

Naminé hadn't known; how could she ever have? How could she have ever known how much trouble a simple action of kindness that echoed somewhere from within her non-existent heart would cause her (or rather Kairi) in the years to come? Yet still, if Naminé thought through her actions on the day she had returned to Castle Oblivion she was never quite sure, even at the moment when everything hung in the balance, that she would ever have done differently in the circumstances. Naminé thought she must have known. Somewhere deep inside her, there was emotion. She knew this. Perhaps it was something to do with being the Nobody of a Princess of Heart, but she felt something when she had looked into the eyes of that tiny child. Naminé thought she may have known all the long where that baby had come from. There was only one real logical explanation, and she knew of the risk she took when she decided to take it away from that Castle, but still... she couldn't have left that baby alone. She had also known when she left again that if DiZ found out about the baby, he would destroy it. He, like her, knew what this baby was, but Naminé pitied the child. A mistake? She thought not. At least that baby now had a chance, but she couldn't care for it. She was also just a child, and she had the job of rebuilding Sora's memories. That's why at the first opportunity, when DiZ wasn't looking, she left the mansion and took the baby into Twilight Town. At least it could have a life there...

Beyond the fall of Xemnas and in the years that followed, nothing much happened to change the peaceful quiet of Twilight Town. Naminé had long since left her dwelling in the old mansion and no Heartless had come to the town in years, neither had Nobodies come to claim new recruits. When the Heartless had first come, nearly twenty years ago now, the Nobodies came with them: the men in black coats, who like the Heartless, stole people away. A young couple had been taken by them: first him and then her. Lumaria. Arlene. No one had seen them again. Heartless and Nobodies were relentless, however and they kept returning, stalking the shadows for the unwary and the dark of heart. But suddenly about fifteen years ago, when HanaRose was just one. It had all stopped. Yes, that was her name: HanaRose, the flower-girl brought from Castle Oblivion that many years ago. She was sixteen now, and now desperately sure that there was something wrong.

HanaRose was a girl who did not really interact well with others. She kept herself to herself most of the time and kept to her flowers. She had heard the stories of Heartless and Nobodies of course. Seifer always told anyone who'd listen (although that number gradually depleted) about how he had scared some off. No one believed him, and anyway, the best stories came from Hayner, Pence and Ollette: how they had saved the worlds with Sora.

_Roxas..._

This was the one thing in her life that HanaRose did not understand.

_Roxas..._

It was a name that sounded familiar, yet she was sure it meant nothing to her. That wasn't new though. Even her flowers, which most people knew by now were the most important thing to her, stirred no emotion in her heart. It was like she didn't care about anything: almost as if she couldn't.

That was why she ran...

When HanaRose was sixteen, she had known all of her life that she was not like the other kids. She had never cried in her life, never laughed, never been afraid of anything. She rarely smiled. She spoke in a monotone. She was cold. She was unfeeling. Everyone knew that. But by the time she was growing into a young woman, they knew or guessed that she wasn't complete. Hanarose herself had never known where she had come from. Not even the woman who took her in had known where the blonde girl who had given HanaRose to her had found the baby. No one knew, and that was what began to make them scared.

"Heartless..."  
"Nobodies..." The whispers started and HanaRose found it decidedly off-putting. She made her way further and further into the woods outside of Twilight Town, even to the old mansion on the outskirts itself. Pence had once told all the children in Twilight Town that when he was a kid, you looked into the window of the top floor of the mansion and you could see a girl in white standing there. Of course all the children then wanted to see the girl and went to look but no one had ever seen her and by now the mansion was just abandoned, even by ghost hunters. No one came around here anymore: not even Hayner, Pence or Ollette. HanaRose had been the first person to re-enter the mansion, and that led to her finding her way out.

People were afraid of her. No emotions: that was the sign of a Nobody: the shells of people that had been left behind when their hearts had been stolen away. HanaRose knew that; but neither could she confirm nor disprove what some people thought of her. How could she tell if she had a heart or not? She didn't know what to do. She just stayed there in the mansion where no one could find her, and wandered the halls when she couldn't sleep. She got to know that place well, and that was how she found that secret basement, and the computer. It had taken her forever to get into it. She had gone through pretty much every password known to man before she had ended up with the right one: "sea-salt ice-cream". Who had thought of that as a password? Yet still it gave her a little of the information she needed. She found out what she was, beyond all reasonable doubt. Her chest was empty. She had no heart. That made her a Nobody, right? But that still didn't make sense with what else she knew. She didn't understand. However, she was powerful: very powerful. She knew that, and in time, learnt to bend Darkness to her will. So therefore, one day, she abandoned Twilight Town and walked through Darkness she had held into a corridor to another world.

She had decided she liked this world. It was bright and full of flowers, overlooked by an old castle, where she set up her residence. After a time she began to learn the name of her new home: a town called Radiant Garden. It was well-named, but HanaRose was still afraid to venture too far from the castle. She knew how people had treated her back in Twilight Town. They could well treat her that way again. She stayed in the castle and started her research: Nobodies. Once again she had to hack the computer Ansem had created. Ansem: he had owned this castle years ago. No one had lived here for years. There was another man of significance though. There was a portrait of him on the wall of Ansem's study. He looked stern, with long silver hair that fell below his shoulders. She had assumed that he was Ansem initially but began to learn that he was not. Someone had tried very hard to cover up the name of this man, but there was one tiny clue left that she managed to find. Someone had left a message inside the otherwise empty draws to the desk. It wasn't as old as the rest of the room, left at maximum twenty years ago. On the message was four words:

"Xehanort: he is Ansem."

So this was Xehanort... but who was he? He was obviously important. His name was interesting. Remove the "X" and the resulting anagram left "another": incidentally the way to get into Ansem's computer. And there she worked for years, that castle in Radiant Garden until, aged twenty-one she was forced out of her comfort zone. People came up to the castle and so to hide she worked her way deeper and deeper into the basements, eventually slipping into the caverns below the castle. However, after all her research, she still knew very little about Nobodies, Heartless, who she really was. It was really her ventures into the caverns which began her story. Stepping into the Caverns of Remembrance was life-changing for her. Memories lived in those caverns. Memories of people long dead, who probably should have been left alone...


	2. Chapter II: Lingering Memories

HanaRose curled up in the corner of the deepest cave, feeling... she wasn't sure what. She seemed calm but inside she was wondering. She looked up, towards the roof of the cavern, lost in darkness. Her blue-green eyes were glazed. She thought over the information she had gathered over the years. It now seemed so little when she thought back over it.

"Keyblade..." she whispered, remembering the word she had read a long time ago. "What is a keyblade?" She sighed and touched her chest, at the point at where her heart would be. Where was her heart? Did she ever had one? What about... "Heartless... Nobodies..." She got up and walked to the middle of the cavern. It was tall beyond measurement, and she looked up into the darkness. She had once read that every time the worlds were on the verge of collapse it was always saved by a boy wielding a keyblade. Some kind of prophecy? She didn't understand. But there was one thing she did know...

XIII

Organisation XIII: Ansem seemed to know a lot about them. They were a group of powerful Nobodies that had had wills strong enough to retain a human form: thirteen of them. She knew the names of the first six even: Xemnas, Xigbar, Xaldin, Vexen, Lexaeus, Zexion (the Nobodies of Ansem's six apprentices). Who were they though really? There were thirteen: all gone now. When a Nobody died there was nothing left behind as there was no heart in the first place. The only thing that would survive was memories of them. HanaRose sat back down on the floor. It was a pity. Maybe they could have helped her. She looked at her hands. She knew what she was, but what to do? She didn't know.

"Who am I?" she asked the Darkness. "More than what I appear to be?" She moaned and touched her head. It was beginning to throb. She felt compressed. She had been working too hard, but what could she do. She did not know if it was safe to leave the Caverns. She didn't know if she could get back to work, but she needed to know. There was a computer down here but it could not tell her much. It was all about the Organisation members and it was almost broken through age. HanaRose sighed again. "What am I?"

"Almost makes you feel sorry for her doesn't it?" came another voice: a woman. HanaRose sat up startled. She was sure she had been alone. But it didn't stop there. Another voice replied to the first.

"Very sensitive, Larxene," came the sarcastic response (although this one was male).

"Like you could care either, bookworm."

"Who are you?" called HanaRose, looking around the cavern, to try and see where the voices were coming from. "Who's there? What are you?"  
"She can hear us?" came a third voice (another male). "This is truly fascinating. I wondered whether the heart had to be required in order to have such a clear sense of one's past but..."

"Yes. Very interesting, Vexen," came a third male voice, sounding rather bored of him. The one HanaRose assumed was Vexen snapped back in reply.

"Just because you no longer bear any interest in the workings of a heart, Lexaeus, or car any longer about the science of it, does not..."

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" another voice groaned. "Nobody cares, Vexen!"

"Which means only that you don't, Number VIII. Besides, Axel, what right do you have to..."

"That's enough." HanaRose shivered slightly at the last voice: male, like most of the others, but with a deadly calm that commanded authority. Vexen lapsed into a silence. HanaRose sat for a time in silence and then finally spoke, unsure of a reply.

"Who are you?" The mysterious last voice replied. His voice was terrifying yet soothing: something was hidden under that calming tone; it was like honey-coated thorns.

"Memories."

"What?"

"Memories that belong to you."

"How?" asked HanaRose. "I don't know you. I don't recognise any of you." Then she saw the shadows.

At first she thought she was imagining them, they were just hovering there in the darkness (a sort of darker shade in the cave) but soon there became no doubt. Six shadows were forming around her in a circle. They were nearly indistinguishable from each other, all clothed in a darkness, but then she began to notice subtle differences. Some were more faded than others and each carried a different object: a scythe, eight kunai knives, a book, a shield, an axe-sword and finally two chakrams. HanaRose looked hard at each, but there was nothing else she could tell from them. For the most part their faces were faded: purely memories that were buried so deep inside her non-existent heart that she had completely forgotten them. The shadow carrying the scythe spoke first.

"Do you know who you really are?" he asked. The voice was so level HanaRose found herself trusting him from without even knowing who he was.

"No," she replied. "I don't. But I want to know. I'm a Nobody, I think... But I don't understand really who I am. I'm not HanaRose, am I?"

"HanaRose is your name, correct?" asked the shadow with the book. HanaRose nodded. The one with the axe-sword grunted in non-interest. HanaRose looked back at the shadow with the scythe. She trusted him.

"Do you know who I am?" she asked.

"I am confident," he replied.

"Then who am I?" she asked. "I have no heart. Who was my Somebody?" She stopped. "You are Organisation XIII aren't you?"

"Yes."

"But you died."

"Yeah, but..." said the woman. "We still are kinda. We're only memories from you."

"But can I bring you back? I need help."

"You don't," said the one with the chakrams. "We can just go."

"No!" she yelled. "I want to know. Tell me! What am I? Who am I?"

"You never had a Somebody," said Vexen. "You were born a Nobody. That is why you have grown."

"But how? Nobodies can't be born..."

"Unless they came from two Nobodies in the first place."

"A child..." murmured the shadow with the book. "That would make sense."

"God, you took a while," said the woman.

"Shut it, Larxene," said the one with chakrams.

"You're telling ME to shut it, Axel?!"

"Both of you," came a voice from the one with the book. "Stop arguing."

"What are you talking about?" asked HanaRose. "Does that mean you know who my parents are?" There was a pause.

"Yes," replied the one with the scythe. "And in the process have been part of this Organisation, without your knowledge, all of your life."

"How?"

"The secret Number XV..."

"Fifteen..." said HanaRose. "But who are my parents?"

"Do you have to tell her?" sighed Axel.

"Do you want to live?" asked the one with the scythe. "I am willing to forgive you, Axel, if the girl can help us."  
"And what the hell makes you think I want _your _forgiveness?"

"Listen here you..."

"Larxene," warned the man with the scythe, and she retreated into mutinous muttering. The one with the scythe looked back at HanaRose (or she assumed so; without a face it was hard to tell). "You can help us." HanaRose looked back at him, finally a flicker of understanding emerging in the back of her mind.

"Are you my father?" she asked. "Are you?" The seconds lengthened and it seemed like an eternity before he spoke.

"Yes," was the eventual reply.

"And my mother?"

"Hello," said a very bored sounding Larxene.

"The child of Nobodies," said the one with the book.

"Number XV..." said HanaRose. "What do I do now?"

"Help us," said the one with the scythe. "You can bring us back."  
"How?"

"So you agree?" HanaRose paused and then bowed her head.

"Yes... Father."

"Good," said the shadow, streaking what HanaRose guessed was a hand in front of her name, producing the eight shimmering silver letters of her name. "Welcome to the Organisation..." he said, waving to the letters as they rearranged themselves and he pressed a golden "X" into the middle of the word, revealing a new name. "...Roxenasha: the Graceful Nymph."


	3. Chapter III: A Day at the Beach

"Five..."

Mizu narrowed his eyes and looked sideways at his older sister.

"Four..."

Sori flexed her fingers and placed her gloved hands down on the sand, giving Mizu a look of superiority.

"Three..."

The siblings looked away from each other and crouched, ready to run, their eyes strained on the paupou tree at the other end of the beach.

"Two..."

They both inched their way forward as though trying to gain the millimetre advantage on the other one.

"One!"

The number had barely left Kazé's lips before the pair of them had zoomed off down the beach, kicking up sand as they went. Expecting the imminent sandstorm however, Kazé had raised her hands to her face and held her breath. Lowering her hands after the younger two had run off, she brushed the sand off her summer dress and pulled her plats out in order to brush sand out of her hair.

"They at it again?" came a voice from behind her. Kazé looked around to see Taigan jump down from one of the trees and coming to join her on the beach. Sitting down next to her he removed his sunglasses from his silver hair and gave her a look. Kazé smiled back at him.

"You know what they're like," she replied. "They're just so competitive. Where's Koju?" Taigan shrugged.

"Somewhere," he replied. "What're you up to anyway?"

"Nothing much," Kazé responded. "Just thinking that I could just sit here for a while. The weather's good. Try and move me. I like it here." Taigan smiled slightly in response, and looked out to the sea, watching the waves lap up on the shore.

"I see what you mean," he said. "Then he looked down the beach. Sori and Mizu had already rounded the paupou tree and were headed back towards them. "Here comes trouble," he said getting back up. Kazé grinned.

"You'd think they were three and four wouldn't you; they're thirteen and fourteen? Where did you see Koju last anyway?"

Koju was Taigan's younger brother. He was the same age as Sori (fourteen), but he was one of those boys that if you took your eyes off for thirty seconds you wouldn't find him again for three hours. Taigan was sixteen, cool and collected. Both he and his brother possessed shining silver hair, blue eyes, and had been friends with Kazé and her siblings for as long as they could remember. It might have something to do with the fact that both of their dads were best friends, but still, they were good to be around. Kazé being a lot quieter than her brother and sister would usually sit and talk to Taigan whilst Koju would either wander off alone or join the other two in some competitive game. Both the girls in Kazé's family had beautiful red hair (albeit a lot longer on Kazé than it was on her sister) and Mizu's hair was a lovely shade of brown. All of them had their mother's beautiful and deep blue eyes, and their father's adventurous attitude. Mizu was very boisterous indeed. It probably came with his being a boy, but Sori was a lot like him in many respects. Dad had always joked that Sori should have been born male as she was enough like one. She played the boys games, ran around a lot, not at all reserved like her sister. Kazé was just content to watch her race, play blitzball with or swordfight Mizu, Koju or both of them: today just Mizu. She probably, like Kazé and Taigan, didn't even know where Koju was.

Taigan looked thoughtful before answering Kazé's question.

"He was over by the pier," he said. "He's not anymore though; I've looked." He cast his eye back to Sori and Mizu, haring down the beach. "And I'd move if I were you, Kazé," or you're going to be trodden on." Kazé inched her way back from her position on the sand to the edge of the greenery. If they came running down now at the speed of sound, at least she now wouldn't get quite so covered in sand. The pair of them came closer, pretty much neck and neck. Taigan lowered his sunglasses again and also stepped back onto the greenery. Kazé looked to her siblings as the pair of them skidded straight past where Kazé had been sitting ten seconds earlier and came to a halt in the dust cloud.

"YES!" Sori punched the air. "And that, Mizu, is how it's done."

"You were lucky," muttered Mizu. "And you cheated, Sori; you didn't touch the tree."

"I did touch that tree. I put my hand on it. There was nothing in the rules which said you had to run into it like you did."

"Both of you," interrupted Kazé, trying to stop an argument before it started. "Don't argue. Sori won. Let's just leave it at that."

"But..." started Mizu.

"Mizu."

"Sorry, Kazé."

"Good. Have you seen Koju anywhere today?" Sori shook her head, although it may have been an attempt to shake her messy red hair out of her face where it had fallen randomly after the race. Mizu however, nodded.

"Yeah, he was by the waterfall, about quarter of an hour ago. He said he was going to do some exploring around the Secret Place." Sori's ears pricked up.

"The Secret Place?" she asked. "Why did no one tell me? I haven't been there since I was about seven. I'm going to find him."

"SORI!" called Mizu as she set off. "Wait for me!" Kazé shook her head and she and Taigan set off after the younger two.

Kairi watched the four kids down on the beach head off towards the waterfall and smiled. It was always nice to come out to the islands for a day. It was a treat for the kids and the adults liked the memories that this place held. It allowed them to remember when they were children. Kairi's long red hair was swept up in the wind as she watched the children sweeping away the undergrowth that hid the entrance to the Secret Place and Mizu crawling through the gap, followed by his sisters and, finally, Taigan. Kairi smiled. They were so sweet, all of them.

"Kairi?" She turned. Sora pulled himself up through the ladder and walked across the room towards her. Kairi smiled.

"Hi, Sora," she smiled. He came up beside her and looked at her, following her eyes to the children crawling into the Secret Place. He smiled.

"It's their Secret Place now, isn't it?" he said. Kairi nodded. It had been their Secret Place when they were children, but now it was more theirs. Their new Secret Place was this tree. When they were about fifteen they and Riku had made the inside of this huge tree into a little room: a real tree house. You could see the whole island from different windows, or just look out at the mainland over the sea. The truth was, Kairi liked it over here on the islands, and she knew Sora loved it as much as she did. It gave them a piece of home that always stayed with them when they had lived through what they had. Kairi looked away from the now silent hole in the rocks by the waterfall and looked over at her husband. Sora looked back at her. "You OK?" he asked. Kairi smiled at him.

"Yeah," she said. "I'm fine." She looked down at the beach. "They're growing up fast," she said, not needing to explain who 'they' were. Sora placed one of his hands on top of hers.

"I know," he said. "It feels weird, doesn't it? We were their age when..."

"Yeah." Sora didn't have to finish his sentence for Kairi to gather what he meant. "You still wonder about them, don't you?"

"Yeah," asked Sora. "You do too. I just wonder how they're doing. I haven't seen them for years."

"They'll be great," replied Kairi with a smile. "I just know it." She put her other hand on top of his and he looked at her.

"I know too," he said. "I'd just like to talk to them sometimes." Kairi smiled at him.

"We'll see them soon. The King only sees us when he is able too though. The bridges between worlds have closed again. It's getting harder for us to see them."

"I wonder if the kids remember them?" asked Sora. Kairi thought.

"Mizu won't. He was too small. Sori may. Kazé might too."

"It was a while then," said Sora. "Look at the kids now."

"That's true," said Kairi. "I hope we can see them sometime soon."

"Sora! Kairi!" They both looked round. Riku hoisted himself up the ladder and stood up, giving his friends a look. "Didn't interrupt anything important."

"No. You're cool," said Sora. Kairi smiled slightly. Sora had a way of getting himself into situations where he felt uncomfortable, even if he was doing nothing to make him uncomfortable. Riku had realised too. He smiled.

"It's OK," he said.

"We were talking about the others," said Kairi, as Riku joined them by the window.

"The King?"

"Yes, and Donald and Goofy."

"We should see them again soon," said Sora.

"Yeah," said Riku. "But when?"

"Dunno," said Sora. "But we should."

Koju was exactly where they thought he would be, hidden in the Secret Place. Mizu went over and sat down beside him. Koju smiled.

"Hey," said Mizu, sitting beside him. "Whatcha doing?" Koju tossed a small ball from one hand to the other.

"Nothing much," he said. "What about you?"

"Mizu just got thrashed at racing the length of the beach," grinned Sori, sitting down on Koju's other side. Mizu scowled at her.

"I did not," he said. "You cheated. You didn't touch the..."

"Now don't fight," said Kazé, following Sori in and walking over to the wall with the pictures on. When their parents were about five they had gone to this Secret Place and drawn pictures of each other on the wall. The paupous had been added when they were older (fourteen) and then below them were the pictures of Kazé, Sori and Mizu when they drew pictures of themselves aged five to join the two on the wall. It was rather sweet in a way. Kazé ran her hand over the wall as Taigan joined the others and sat down on the floor, opposite his younger brother.

"What're you doing, Squirt?"

"Don't call me 'Squirt'!" Koju pouted. Taigan smiled slightly.

"Boys," smiled Kazé, but still sounding serious. "Don't fight. The rules apply to you too."  
"You're not our sister though," put in Koju.

"Since when did that stop me trying to keep the peace," beamed Kazé and sat down by the etchings on the wall. "You two are useless."

"We try," smiled Taigan.

"Oh, I've left my bag on the beach. Can I go get it?" asked Kazé, realising her flowery carry-bag had not come into the cave with her. Taigan shrugged.

"Not stopping you," he said.

"Thanks." Kazé got up and walked off back down the thin stone entrance to the cave, then crawled out. Taigan smiled and leaned back on the wall. He realised the others were staring at him.

"What?" he asked.

"Nothing," smiled Sori.

"What?" Taigan repeated.

"Never mind," said Sori. "I'm gonna go and talk to Kazé." She got up and left, leaving the boys alone. Mizu crossed his arms around the back of his head in a way very similar to his father.

"I like it when we have days off on the islands. Best in the Summer."

"True," said Koju. "Dunno why, it's just cool."

"You can get away from me?" asked Taigan, raising an eyebrow. Koju smiled and threw his ball at his older brother.

"Shut it, Taigan!"

"'Don't fight boys,'" laughed Mizu, with an uncanny imitation of his sister. Koju and Taigan both laughed and Taigan threw the ball hard at him.

"Come on," he laughed. "Don't be childish. She tries."

"Oooh, do you like her?" asked Koju. Taigan laughed.

"Grow up, Koju," he told him.

"You do, don't you?" said Mizu.

"Drop it."

"Taigan likes my sister!"

"I said drop it!" Koju and Mizu laughed. "Right, I'm going." Taigan stood up. "I'm not putting up with this."

"Going to see your girlfriend?" asked Koju, grinning like a manic. Taigan sighed and put his sunglasses over his face.

"Oh for the love of..."

"Guys!"

The boys turned around to look at who had spoken. Sori was crouched in the semi-darkness at the end of the tunnel, beckoning them to join her.

"Guys, you'll wanna see this. You'll really wanna see this!"

"What?" asked Taigan, happy now to be out of dangerous waters. Sori looked excited and expectant.

"New guy," she said.

"Nope," said Koju. "Koju no speaky Tom-boy." Sori pulled a face at him and then continued.

"There's a new guy down on the beach. Do you guys know any redheads?" All three boys promptly pointed at Sori. Sori sighed.

"Not me, you idiots. Anyone else?"

"Kazé," prompted Mizu.

"NO!" snapped Sori. "A guy, red hair, really spiky hair like a hedge... just come and see!" She grabbed Koju and Mizu by the arm and dragged them back down the stone passage. Intrigued, Taigan followed at a walk, smiling as he watched his brother being pulled after a very determined Sori. Sori reached the end of the passage and forced her brother and Koju through the gap through which they crawled into sunlight. Sori ducked after them and straightened up next to the two younger boys as Taigan also scrambled through the hole.

"Where is this guy anyway?" asked Koju.

"I saw him on the beach talking to Kazé. Come on, I'll show you," said Sori and indicated the boys to follow her.


	4. Chapter IV: Visiting the Witch

Maleficent was still unhappy, and to be honest she had every right to be. She had barely escaped the data world and had returned to the Enchanted Dominion in order to recover what was left of her strength. Pete had left of course. She didn't care to be honest though. That good-for-nothing imbecile could slink off and crawl into whichever world he wanted to. She had never planned to share her power with him anyway. The thing was Pete was gullible and Maleficent had used that to improve her plans (or would have done were he not so useless).

The Nobodies had gone, however. That was her only conciliation. She knew that once she had mastered back enough of her former strength she could possibly win back the Heartless and begin her plans once again. At least that boy with the Keyblade will have long since gone home to his islands and as long as the Heartless didn't go there she would be fine. The witch looked from the window of her tower over to the castle of King Philip. How it made her skin crawl? She couldn't leave her castle until she had enough power to challenge the king and his queen: the queen she'd tried to kill so many years ago. She hated being captive like this. She stroked the head of her raven pet and continued to glare towards the castle. One day he was going to pay: both of them were.

Rumours from other worlds had reached her ears though. Tidings of the other lands had many wings (although her Pet could tell her most things). Hollow Bastion (no, Radiant Garden as it was now) had had very interesting news come from it. Despite the old news that all members of the Nobodies' Organisation had died there had spread word that a new member was amongst their ranks. People had spoken about a woman wearing the Coat of the Organisation (a fifteenth if the rumours were to be believed), who had been seen in both Hollow Bastion and through other worlds. Maleficent smiled to herself. Some people were still afraid of them. Honestly. If the Nobodies had returned she would have known. The Heartless would have sensed it. She turned away from the window, her raven jumping onto the end of her wand and she walked up the steps to her tower. She turned her head slightly as a flicker in the shadows amidst the green fire in the hearth caught her eye, but there was no one there. Maleficent narrowed her green eyes and turned away. She had definitely seen something. Someone was here. But no one could have made it past the thorns guarding her gate. Maleficent whirled around and swiftly walked back to the window and looked down the black stone walls to see the thorns gathering at the bottom. There was nothing wrong with them. They had not been cut away or burnt or receded by some form of magic. They were perfect. Maleficent was wary. Unless the thorns had let someone through... They couldn't. It would need someone with magic more powerful than hers over the thorns themselves in order to...

"Maleficent, I take it," came an emotionless female voice from over by the fire. Maleficent smiled without turning around.

"The Fifteenth," she smiled, and turned to confirm her assumption. A young woman stood silhouetted by the fire dressed all in black, the hood of her dark coat drawn up so that he face was hidden in shadow. Maleficent looked towards where her face would be. "I thought you were just a rumour." The Fifteenth gave a short and quiet snigger.

"The thing about rumours," she responded in her monotone, "Is that more often than not, they are true." Maleficent raised her wand. "I wouldn't bother," said the Fifteenth, raising her left hand in a gesture of unfriendly warning. "If you want to call for your guards I doubt they'll be able to hear you. I had to silence them on the way up here." Maleficent lowered her wand again as the Fifteenth moved away from the fire and walked around the edge of the room, running her gloved fingers across the rough stone of the walls. Maleficent watched her carefully.

"Why are you here?" she asked. The Fifteenth paused to look at her.

"To speak to you, Maleficent. Why else would I be here. If I was going to kill you surely I would have done it already?"

"But how did you enter my castle without being detected. My castle is protected. You cannot open one of your Dark Corridors inside my domain."

"I didn't," replied the Fifteenth, walking over to the balcony and out of the window towards to Royal Castle. "I opened my Dark Corridor outside of your 'domain' and walked from there."

"Impossible," stated Maleficent. "No one can pass the entrance of this castle so long as my thorns..."

"Oh, yes, the thorns," said the Fifteenth, sounding amused. "I would be your exception. The thorns obey me alone when I am present. You think that they are yours to command and in most cases they are, it is just when I am here. Any plant that grows is under my protection, and therefore is mine to command. A talent of my father's before me, you might say it's in my blood."

"And therefore you arrive undetected," deduced Maleficent. "I have to say I am rather impressed, considering you're a Nobody."

"My name is Roxenasha," said the Fifteenth with a hint of contempt for the witch in her voice. "But I am not here for a social visit. I have business that needs discussing with you, Witch."

"I want nothing to do with your Organisation," snapped Maleficent. "They stole away my Heartless and left me to rot. Why should I now associate myself with you?" Roxenasha lowered her hood, revealing her thin face, blue eyes and blonde hair, tinged with pink.

"Xemnas was a fool," she said. "Both he and his loyal Second-in-Command are of no importance to me or to anything in the Grand Scheme of things. Marluxia is the only one I answer to as my Superior, and Larxene his Second-in-Command."

"Your power-scrambles amongst yourselves are no concern of mine," said Maleficent, in a tone which made it clear that she was not going to be swayed. Roxenasha looked back at her, he blue eyes shining malevolently.

"But you don't yet know what exactly I plan on doing," she said. "I shan't bother you further once I have what I need."

"And that would be what?"

"Well, two things," put in the Fifteenth. "Firstly to be able to speak to the Heartless Leader, safely without fear of betrayal; and secondly I would like to learn some of your dark magics: only specifics, not much."

"You are asking for more than you know, girl," said Maleficent. "The Heartless Guardian is not one to trifle with. He could destroy you."  
"But I am more powerful than you," smiled the Nobody. "And when he hears my offer, I'm sure he'd be happy to agree to my terms."

"If in the case of our power you are correct, why would you require my magic?" Roxenasha smiled.

"Because you have the dark magic of resurrection: something I do not possess and I need." Maleficent raised her thin eyebrows slightly.

"And you wish to obtain this knowledge from me so that you can bring back your Organisation and claim Kingdom Hearts as yours? You won't. Kingdom Hearts is mine! A place great enough to be called Kingdom Hearts shall belong only to me!" Roxenasha threw back her head and laughed a high, cold, cruel laugh that didn't suit her pretty face.

"Oh, I still knew you would say that," she said. "And believe me, Witch, this is going to make things so much easier."

Before Maleficent had even the thought to move, the girl had vanished. There was no Dark Corridor or portal. She had left by herself in a flash of lightning. Maleficent whirled around on the spot to try and find out where she'd gone, but any sign of the Nobody had gone. The witch was uneasy. She would not have given up, and her parting words made it clear she hadn't left. She was still in this room, somewhere, moving at the speed of light, undetectable. Maleficent felt a glove touch the back of her neck.

"Thank you," smiled Roxenasha, and began to drain away her power...

Dropping the motionless body of the witch to the floor, Roxenasha inspected her hands, seemingly gloved not only in her black Organisation gloves, but in green flame. She smiled and walked over to the hearth and drew out a stick, the flames licking at the wood.  
"Fire," she murmured, examining it carefully. "And with the amount of people in whose memories you reside, Number VIII, you will serve as the perfect test subject for this magic." She gripped the stick more tightly and watched it dissolve into petals, tiny sparks of electricity flowing through their veins. The fire on her hands was fading now and Roxenasha cried upwards to the vaulted ceiling. "HEARTLESS! Come to me!" Two Heartless soldiers materialised in front of her. Roxenasha smiled. "Good," she said. "Now... take me to your leader."


	5. Chapter V: In Dancing Flames

Kazé crawled out of the hole and began to dash off towards the beach. She found the place where she had been before quite easily (the sand had been kicked up a lot around there) and began her search for her bag. She was sure she had left it here. Where was it?

"This yours?" Kazé jumped and spun around quickly to see who had spoken. There was a young man there, green eyes, red hair, black coat and holding her little flowery bag in his left hand. Kazé was a bit too shocked by his presence to say anything. She just nodded. "Fair enough." The man through the bag to her and walked past her towards the sea. Kazé found her tongue at last.

"Thank you," she said. The man waved his arm in a gesture of passiveness, but didn't say anything. Kazé walked down the beach towards him as her little sister arrived and hid behind a rock, watching carefully.

Kazé looked closely at the man. "Do you live near here? I don't think I've seen you before." The man laughed.

"Nope," he said. "I'm not local."

"Then how come you're here?" asked Kazé. "Do you come from... out there?" She indicated out towards the open ocean. The man watched her.

"Perhaps," he said, as Kazé came up beside him. "Depends on your point of view really. Got that memorised?"

"You are, aren't you? You're from another world." The man smiled.

"Well deduced, kid." There was a long silence. Kazé looked down at her bag and twirled the paupou charm she had attached to it around her fingers. The man ignored her and looked up and down the beach, checking for other people it seemed. It was during this silence that Sori had left her cover from in the vegetation further back off the beach and retreated back towards the Secret Place to see what the boys could make of this 'new guy'.

Kazé eventually looked back up at him.

"Who are you?" The man grinned.

"Me?" Kazé nodded. "Name's Axel. Got it memorised?" Kazé nodded again. "What's your name?"

"Kazé," she replied.

"Nice," said Axel and looked off down the beach again. It was almost as if he was looking for someone.

"There was someone else called 'Axel' once," said Kazé. Axel now looked interested.

"Someone else?"

"Yeah," said Kazé. "But it can't be you. The Axel my dad knew died before I was born." Axel shrugged.

"People have come back from the dead."  
"Yeah. Maleficent came back from the dead," said Kazé. "But if a Nobody dies there's nothing left. No heart survives." Axel made a rather indistinct "Hm" noise, but said nothing else. Kazé looked down at her bag again.

"Dad said the Axel he knew saved his life and mom's. That Axel died so that dad could go save her. He said once that if Axel hadn't held off the Dusks, I wouldn't be here. He'd have died." Axel gave her a puzzled look.

"'Dad'?" he repeated. Kazé nodded. "Sora?"

"You know him?" asked Kazé.

"Were you listening to the story, kid? Gees, even if the Spawn of Marluxia is about twenty you never really expect... Wild stab in the dark: is your mom Kairi?"

"Yeah but..." Kazé stammered. Now she was confused. How could he... A really terrible thought hit her. "...Axel's dead? Dad said he died."

"Dad was right," smiled Axel, and suddenly Kazé began to feel slightly worried. What was it about him? "But," smiled the redhead, "Axel's back now."

"See?" said Sori, letting go of Koju to point over at the red-haired man on the beach. "That's him."

"Who is he?" asked Mizu. Sori sighed.

"How would I know? Would I go and ask you who he is if I knew?"

"You do that sometimes," said Koju. Sori glared at him. Taigan looked at the younger ones.

"Who do you _think_ he is then?" he asked. Sori shrugged.

"Never thought," she said. "Wonder if Kazé knows..."

"I'll go," said Taigan. Koju looked at his brother as though he was insane.  
"How do you know he's not dangerous?"

"He hasn't hurt Kazé has he?"

"No."

"She looks worried though," said Mizu, squinting at his sister.

"That'd be a good reason to go then," said Taigan. "She won't be worried if she's not alone."

"I don't think we'll need to worry about that," Mizu added. The other three looked at him.

"Why?" asked all three at once. Mizu pointed down the beach and the others leaned out to look.

"Oh," said Taigan.

"Kazé!" Kazé looked around and down the beach, turning her back for a moment on Axel. She stared.

"Mom?"

"Kazé, come here now."

"Mom, what...?"

"Just do it. Come here now!" Kazé's head began to spin. Mom looked so frightened: more frightened than Kazé had ever seen her. Kairi held out her arms in a gesture of summons. "Come here!" Kazé walked towards her mother, glancing over her shoulder at Axel, who hadn't moved at all. Kairi gestured to her again and Kazé walked up to her, seeing her dad and Riku running down the beach towards them. She risked another glance at Axel, whose emerald eyes were sparkling.

The four hidden in the undergrowth caught sight of their dads as well and Taigan got ready to stand up.

"Right," he said. "I'm gonna find out what's going on. You three coming?" Koju, Sori and Mizu all shook their heads. "Suit yourselves," he said and walked out. The other three watched carefully. They might not be able to hear the conversation, but it was more fun over here.

"Dad, what's going on?" asked Taigan, walking out towards them. Riku looked at him and held out his arm as in gesturing to stay where he was for the time being. Sora was completely ignoring all else. He positioned himself squarely between Axel and the others wearing a very odd expression somewhere between disbelief and hostility.

"What are _you_ doing here?" he asked. "No, wait. Forget that. _How _are you here?" Axel laughed.

"Still straight to the point; you haven't changed much."

"Axel, I said 'how the hell are you here?' Tell me. Last time I checked you were dead."

"Last time you checked was twenty years ago. Things change, Sora." Sora glared at him.

"Still not answering the question." Axel sighed.

"Now, Sora..." he started. "How the High and Mighty forget. Who was it who betrayed the Organisation in order to get you into the Castle in one piece?" Sora mellowed slightly but tried unsuccessfully to hide it.

"You did," he said.

"Don't treat me like your enemy, Sora. I'm not. I came here to help."

"But you died. I watched you die with my own eyes, and Nobodies don't come back." Axel smiled.

"Still got that memorised, huh?"

"Still doesn't explain anything," put in Riku. "How are you here?"

"Someone brought me back."

"Why don't you start making sense?" said Sora. "You can't bring a Nobody back."

"Actually if a memory still exists of someone, even a Nobody, the right magic can bring them back, although still not completely."

"Who did it?"

"The problem I came to tell you about," said Axel. "We're not all gone: the Organisation. There's still one alive: the Fifteenth."

"What happened to XIV?" asked Sora. Axel shrugged.

"Don't know. Didn't even know there was one, but the others insist there was one."

"Others?" asked Riku, being the first to voice what had just come to everyone's mind.

"Yeah. That's why I'm here. She's annoyed with you."

"Who?" asked Sora.

"Roxenasha: Number XV. She doesn't like the fact she's the only one left and is planning on resurrecting the memories of some of the Nobodies who made up our Organisation. I was her test subject."

"And why are you telling us this?" asked Kairi. "Last time I saw you, you kidnapped me. Why should we believe you?"

"Another thing," pointed put Sora. "What's in this whole thing for you? You won't help anyone without some reason for it." Axel laughed.

"You really do still think that little of me? You're sort of right in a way though. I don't want to be in a position where the others can hurt me. I did betray them, remember? And I actually did kill two of the ones she plans to bring back. If I was them, I'd kill me for all I was worth. So I came to you at first opportunity. You need to stop her. And if my hide isn't enough, think of your precious worlds. They'll release the Heartless back on them. They're not going to be staying in Villain's Vale forever. So wadaya say?" Axel held out a hand. "Are you in?"

Sora hesitated. How could he be sure that Axel wasn't lying? Axel would lie. But the thing was, his story was buyable in a way. Kairi looked at him.

"Sora?" Sora looked at her then Riku and then back at Axel. He took a deep breath.

"Who is she?" he asked. Axel smiled.

"Ha! I knew you'd come around eventually Sora. You're too much like Roxas." Axel walked past Sora and smacked him hard on the back. Sora and Riku watched him carefully and followed, Kairi and Kazé looking over at Taigan before beckoning him over and they caught up with the others.

"What's going on?" hissed Koju in Sori's ear. She rounded on him.

"I can see as much as you can, dufus!" she hissed back and carried on watching.

"Yeah, but that guy and Dad seem to know each other," pointed out Mizu, watching his parents, sister, Riku and Taigan leave with the mysterious guy. Koju pulled on his shirt to grab his attention.

"Come on," he whispered and indicated down the beach. Koju began to follow him in order to keep a closer watch on their parents when he felt Sori grab his arm very tightly.

"Ow! Sor-"

"Shhhh." Sori raised a finger to her lips and looked very uncharacteristically worried.

"What is it?" mouthed Mizu. Sori pulled Mizu back and pointed over to someone else who had arrived on the beach. Koju appeared to have realised that something was wrong had had stopped still where he was, looking over at Sori and Mizu with an expression of mingled worry and confusion.

"Sori, what's going on?" he mouthed, but she wasn't paying attention. Neither was Mizu for that matter. They were both intently watching the newcomer.

From the general proportions, Sori would have said this newcomer was a woman, but it was impossible to see her face as the hood on her black cloak had been drawn right up so that the shadows on her face hid it completely from sight. Sori's eyes darted down the beach to the adults, Kazé and Taigan and then back again to the woman. Mizu knew what she was thinking as he had been thinking the same thing himself. The coat the woman was wearing and the coat the red-haired guy talking to their parents was wearing were almost identical, as though they were part of the same uniform. A horrible thought sunk into Mizu at the moment something dark showed in his sister's face. She, like him, had assumed the worst, thinking back to stories they were told when they were small...

The Organisation?

No. It wasn't possible. They had all died long ago. But there was still something about this woman that gave even Sori forebodings (and she was the most boisterous out of the three). Koju had frozen, not moving at all save for his eyes, following the woman as she walked down the beach. Mizu opened his mouth first.

"Who is she?" he whispered.

"Don't know," hissed back Sori. "Just keep down."

"Why?"

"I don't like it."

"Guys," Koju hissed through non-moving lips. "What do we do?"

"Stay here. What else can we do?" replied Mizu. Koju looked back down the beach.

"They don't know she's here," he said, watching the others closely.

"Just keep watching," hissed Sori. "Anything bad happens and yell."

The woman walked swiftly down the beach, getting closer and closer to the others. Mizu's heart was in his mouth. He didn't like this at all. Sori's breathing was very shallow and Koju had lapsed into uncommon stillness. Mizu swallowed and carried on watching as the woman raised her right arm at a right angle to her body and, in a shower of petals and sparks, summoned a weapon. Koju let out an exclamation that he quickly stifled. The woman had summoned a scythe. It wasn't just any old scythe though. It was made of some kind of purplish metal blade. Its handle was a deep green and a four-petaled flower on one side was formed from four yellowish pointed petals along the edge of the blade at the joining of blade and handle, with the symbol of a Nobody painted in white onto the very edge if the blade. The whole thing itself was staggering and must have been at least two feet taller than its wielder. Mizu knew he really would not want to get into a fight with anybody wielding that monstrosity, and then just as quickly realised he might have too. The woman had quickened her pace and nearly reached the others now, standing almost right behind his dad and that red-haired guy. She raised the scythe quickly and in the split second before it fell, Mizu heard Sori scream out a warning.

"DAD! LOOK OUT!"

Sora turned just in time. So did Axel, although both took completely different actions. Realising that Kairi, Kazé and Taigan were in immediate danger he dived towards the three of them and pushed them out of the scythe's reach. Riku, realising what was happening drew the Way to the Dawn and come forward, but somebody else had blocked the scythe first. With an echoing crash of metal on metal, Axel's chakram was brought up to meet the scythe only inches from hitting him in the head. The woman behind her hood snarled.

"You didn't think that I'd just let you wander off if I didn't know _exactly_ where you would go, did you?" she asked. "I dragged you back out of the darkness and this is how you repay me? You really ought to be more grateful, Axel." Axel brought up a second chakram and hit the woman about the head with it. She cried out slightly and jumped backwards, skidding along the sand and raising the scythe again. Riku jumped forward and brought his keyblade up, preparing to strike but in two swift movements the woman beneath the hood blocked the blow and sent Riku flying in a shower of crimson light. With a yell he fell backwards, landing on his back ten feet away.

"Dad!" called Taigan.

"I'm good," said Riku and got back to his feet, but by this time he had an ally. Sora got up to join the fight, preparing to summon his own keyblade but Axel threw up a ring of fire around himself and the mysterious woman.

"No," he said, as Sora and Riku looked for some way of getting through the fire. "She's much more dangerous than she looks!"

The woman laughed and threw back her hood.

"You're a traitor to the Organisation, Axel," she said, a thin smile spreading across her thin lips. "And I was told to eliminate traitors." Lightning crackled around her fingertips. Axel swung both chakrams around and dived forward at her, prepared to fight. The woman smiled and jumped to the left out of Axel's way and raised her scythe again, missing Axel by inches as she swung it at his head. By now Sora had almost forgotten what he had been trying to do and watched the battle behind the flames, as Riku still skirted the ring, looking for an opportunity. Taigan watched blankly. He looked to Kazé as though he wanted to do something, but wasn't sure what that was. Kazé herself stood back from the battle, feeling her mother's left hand tightly gripping her shoulder as Kairi stared into the ring, wondering what to do herself. The Fifteenth (as they had now guessed well enough) threw some form of powerful magic straight at Axel's chest, but he blocked it just in time with his chakrams in an explosion of flaming petals. Then Sora realised something extremely bad. Axel was breathing deeply. He was tired. Axel was struggling now. He was exhausted already and had barely any time to actually attack when he was being battered by the Fifteenth. Axel had never been one for defeat. How could he be losing? This woman was strong, whoever she was, and, worse, seemed to have power over more than one element. Now what could happen? Axel, despite his clear strength, was still not going to be strong enough to take on that woman all by himself. If Axel didn't let that fire drop… Sora summoned his keyblade quickly and ran around the fire to try and find a way in. Number XV took a swing at Axel again with the scythe and this time hit home. The scythe sliced through his left arm, leaving a deep cut and Axel yelled, inadvertently dropping one chakram, which dissolved in flames. The Fifteenth smiled and walked up too Axel as he raised his remaining chakram. "You couldn't ever hope to beat me, Axel," she said, pointing the scythe at his head. "You should have known it was a useless gesture." She raised the scythe. "Goodbye, Number VIII."

CRASH!

"What?" As she attempted to bring the scythe down, something blocked the blade. Sora had braved the flames in the last moment and positioned himself in between the Fifteenth and Axel, blocking the scythe with his keyblade. He drew a second keyblade and held it up to the point where her heart should have been but all she did was smile. "Very brave of you, Keyblade Master," she sneered. "But it will not save you. We will destroy you, with or without Number VIII." Sora raised his keyblade from her chest to her face.

"Leave it," he said. "Fight me if you have a problem with me. You don't have to kill him to make a point." The Fifteenth laughed and her weapon dissolved into electrified petals.

"Axel is a problem, but he can't stop me," she smiled. "Keep him if you want. He's not my problem anymore. I have bigger things to watch unfold."

"What does that mean?"

"It means, Keyblader, that the worlds are changing. The Heartless are growing restless and they will break out soon. I've proved with this one here that the Organisation you destroyed is not as dead as you hoped. You destroyed my family, Sora. Step in my way and I will hurt those who are most important to you." Her eyes flickered slightly in the direction of Kairi and Kazé. She smiled and looked back at him. "Be a good boy, Sora." Then she disappeared into a dark corridor.

The flames encircling Axel and Sora disappeared and Sora gave Kairi a worried glance and then looked over at the three younger children who had stood up out of their hiding place during the battle. All three looked shaken and silent. Taigan looked at his father. Riku's lip was bleeding but apart from that he looked fine. For a few minutes nobody spoke. Then Kazé finally broke the silence.

"Dad?" Sora said nothing, just looked back at Axel, who got to his feet, still nursing his left arm.

"That's gonna smart," he said.

"Now what?" asked Riku, looking around as if for suggestion, but got none. Sora looked up at him, then to Kairi. His face was unreadable. Kazé looked from face to face, realising that she was out of her own depth. Eventually Sora replied.

"What else?" he asked looking at Riku. He understood and nodded.

"We have to sort this out ourselves."


	6. Chapter VI: Five Minutes to Midnight

Five minutes to midnight and Kazé lay on her bed with her eyes wide open staring at the ceiling. She couldn't sleep. She had too much going on in her mind. She had barely spoken to anyone after what happened on the beach and the adults had all boxed themselves up in a corner whilst talking in lowered voices. It didn't help to improve the atmosphere at all.

She was worried more than anything. Everything seemed so out of place to her. It was though the world she had known all her life was now alien to her. Something felt horribly wrong and she didn't know what to do about it. Oh, for someone to help her understand this! Kazé sighed heavily and rolled over to face the wall. The light of the moon reflected on the sea showed dancing patterns on the walls of her room, and apart from the waves slowly lapping the shoreline she could hear nothing. She was scared and confused. She wasn't a child. Why would no one answer her questions? Then she suddenly heard another noise.

"Pst."

At first she thought it was just the wind or something but then it came again more loudly and inpatient this time.

"Pst. Kazé. You awake?"

"Yes," she hissed back and the door opened and Sori snuck in checking the hall outside again before closing the door. Kazé leant over to her lamp and flicked the switch so she could see her sister properly.

"Sori, what are you doing up at this time. You should be in bed."

"Don't tell me you can sleep after today."

"And," added Kazé, as the full impact of her sister hit her. "Why are you dressed?"

"I couldn't sleep. Neither could Mizu. So we've been scouting for clues. Aunt Selphie's here, ya know."

"What? Why?"

"Dad's going away," responded Sori, coming over to her sister and leaning on the desk near the bed. "Mom wants to go with him."

"Where's he going?"

"Dunno." There was a light tapping on the door.

"Kazé..." It was Mizu's voice.

"Just come in," said Kazé, resigned.

Mizu entered the room, also fully clothed and joined his sisters. He smiled slightly at his eldest sister.

"Guess you couldn't sleep either."

"Looks like I'm the only one who tried. What's going on? Where's Mom and Dad? And where's Axel?" Mizu shrugged.

"Don't ask. Just been downstairs and Aunt Selphie's the only one there."

"Where will they have gone?" she asked.

"Let's look," put in Sori, eyes shining. Kazé shook her head.

"No. Too much has already happened today."

"Kazé, has anyone ever told you how boring you are?" asked Sori, pulling a face.

"You do. All the time."

"Yeah, well..." Sori shrugged a little in order to imply the rest of her sentence. Kazé folded her arms and looked authoritative.

"I'm not going to let you do anything stupid. You saw what happened on that beach today. You saw that Organisation woman. You might not have been close enough to see but she has some serious magic under her control _and _not to mention lack of any conscience. No. She could have killed dad today."

"But she didn't."

"That's not my point, Mizu. I'm the oldest. I'm responsible for you whether you like it or not. I'm not going to let you do anything stupid, which will end up with you hurt: either of you."

"Kazé."

"Yes, Sori?"

"Why's dad not dead?" Kazé stared at her sister wondering if she had misheard her.

"What?"

"Why wasn't dad killed? How did he know he was in danger?" Kazé bowed her head slightly.

"You called out."

"Thought so," smiled Sori and sat down next to her sister on the bed. "Look. You know that Org woman's powerful. You said so yourself. So what happens next time? What happens if next time there's no one to watch his back?" Kazé went deadly quiet. Sori looked at her sister straight in the eye. "Look, I'm not doing anything stupid 'cause I'm curious this time, Kazé. I'm worried too. Dad could need help, and I'm gonna help him. Mizu, are you still with me?" Mizu nodded.

"All the way."

"Kazé, are you?" Kazé swallowed. What her sister had said _did _make sense, but it could be dangerous out there. There were so many worlds. The Heartless and the Nobodies will have gathered strength back. Kazé knew that she probably didn't have the stomach to go out there.

But did she have the heart?

Kazé thought. She really had no choice if both Sori and Mizu were set on going. She was supposed to look after them and that was really her job as an older sibling. She knew from experience that both Sori and Mizu (although to be honest Sori more than Mizu) were both very stubborn and would not shift. She had to stay with them if they were going. She swallowed and then nodded. Sori grinned.

"Now that's my sister," she said, picking up Kazé's dress and throwing it across the room at her. "Get dressed. We're heading out." Mizu took the hint and muttered something vaguely about checking on what Aunt Selphie was doing, and left the room. Sori sat down on the floor with her back to the bed as Kazé began to dress.

"I can't believe I'm doing this," muttered Kazé out loud. Sori's lips twitched into slight smile.

"Fun?" she asked.

"I thought you said you weren't in this for the laughs."

"I'm not," said Sori. "I'm all for looking after Dad; I'm just looking for the positive side. There's gotta be one right?" Kazé put on her dress, fastened her sandals and fastened her paupou charm around her neck for luck. She looked at herself in the mirror. She looked pale and worried, but she still thought she was doing the right thing. She turned to Sori.

"Are you afraid?" she asked. Sori looked thoughtful.

"A little," she said. "But t won't be anything big."

"Did you listen to the stories?" asked Kazé. "You know as well as I do..."

"Kazé, don't be such a worry-guts." Sori crossed to the door and tapped at it. "Mizu, you can come in now if you want."

Mizu opened the door and slipped in.

"What's going on downstairs?" asked Sori.

"Nothing much. Aunt Selphie's reading something and Mom and Dad aren't here."

"Let's go find them then," said Sori, looking around her sister's room. Kazé looked at Mizu.

"Could we get out without Selphie..." He shook his head before the question was finished.

"Not if we're taking the door," he said. Sori raised her eyebrows at her younger brother.

"Who said anything about taking the door?"

"Sori," said Kazé. "What are you doing?" Sori jumped up onto Kazé's bed and leant out of the open window.

"We could do this," she said. "One little jump from here and we're onto the walkway. Then we can head down on the route through the trees."

"Sori, I know the view from my own window. That's not 'one little jump'," said Kazé, sounding worried.

"Sure it is," said Sori, hoisting herself onto the sill and looking back at her siblings.

"Sori, get back..." Sori jumped.

"SORI!"

"Shhhhhhh!" hissed the girl's voice from outside. Mizu and Kazé leaned out of the window to look. Sori was stood on the walkway's barrier, perched like a bird and holding a finger to her lips. "She'll hear us." Sori pointed down to the floor below them. "Now come on and keep quiet." Mizu got up onto the ledge too and jumped with ease, landing like a cat next to his sister. Both he and Sori slipped off the barrier and onto the walkway itself, looking around for anyone coming. Kazé, not wishing to be left behind, climbed onto the sill as well. Then a thought occurred to her.

"Do the others know?" she asked.

"Huh?" Both of them looked confused.

"Taigan and Koju: do they know?" Sori shrugged.

"Dunno." Mizu shook his head.

"They're probably awake though."

"We need to tell them," said Kazé. "One minute." She climbed back off the sill and looked around for her bag.

"Kazé, what're you doing?" asked Mizu, climbing back up onto the barrier in an attempt to see into the room. Kazé, pulled her now-slightly-singed flowery bag off her bedside table, grabbed a pen and notepad off her desk, slipped them in and climbed back onto the sill, the bag over her shoulder. Mizu moaned.

"Why didn't I think of a bag?"

"There's not much in it. It's to keep notes and things. We need to let the others know what's going on. They'd worry about us otherwise. Besides, I know they don't trust Axel. I know I don't. He really creeps me out." She shivered slightly, but managed to keep her balance on the sill. Sori beckoned her.

"C'mon," she hissed. Kazé jumped over and landed lightly on the edge.

"Let's go," whispered Mizu and ran lightly down the walkway, Sori right behind him.

"Wait," said Kazé, scribbling a quick message to Taigan and Koju, and folding it up. "When we get to the other's house we need to give them this."

"Hang on," said Mizu. "What happens if Riku's not going?" Sori turned and smiled at her brother.

"Course he will, Mizu. He'd go too. It's Mom who may not be going."

"If I know Mom, she will and she'll leave Selphie in charge of us, and probably the others."

"If you're thinking about taking them, you can't," said Sori. "They'll be too many of us if we leave the island."

"I'm not," said Kazé. "I just wish I knew what's going on."

"Well, we're not gonna be finding out if we don't go," said Sori. "Come on, Kazé. We'll drop off the note on the way."

"Where too?" asked Mizu, slowing down slightly and glancing back. "Beach?" Sori smiled.

"Beach."

"Beach," added Kazé as well, and the three of them made their way down through the trees towards the silent coast.


	7. Chapter VII: Blast Away!

The beach was not empty. When they got there Sori realised that she was right. Mom and Dad were down on the beach. So were Riku and Axel. Mom was holding something in her hand and was talking to Dad about something.

"You see," she said, holding up the thing in her hand (as the kids realised she was holding a bottle). "They know already. Sora, you..."

"Kairi," he interrupted. "I'm not going through this again."

"Why?"

"Because I don't want you to be hurt," he said and walked towards the sea. Riku indicated her to go after him and she did, thrusting the bottle into Riku's hand as she did.

"Sora," she said. "I can help. I want to. I can fight. You and Riku are not the only keyblade wielders on these Islands."

"Kairi," said Sora again. "Don't make me the bad guy here. I just want..."

"...Me to be safe. I know," she said. "I'm not made of glass, Sora. I'm not something that needs protecting all the time. I can fight. I have a keyblade." She summoned the Destiny Place to prove her point. "See," she said. Sora remained silent. Kairi reached up and brushed his cheek with the fingers of her free hand. "Please," she said quietly. "I want to come. I want to help. Please let me. You know I worry about you." Sora bowed his head slightly.

"I worry about you too, Kairi. That's why I don't want you to..."

"Oh, hurry up with the decision already!" said Axel, probably louder than he meant too. Sora and Kairi both glared at him and he lapsed into quiet muttering, rubbing at his injured arm again. Sora tried to brush over the interruption and turned back to Kairi.

"I just don't want..."

"Sora," said Kairi, looking decided. "I'm coming. You can't stop me." Sora looked up at Riku and then back down at Kairi, knowing he was defeated.

"Just promise me you'll be OK." Kairi smiled.

"Promise," she said and kissed his cheek. Mizu mimed vomiting and Kazé gave him a warning look.

Sori skirted the edges of the undergrowth, still trying to remain reasonably unseen. She froze for a second when she thought Axel had seen her. He stopped and looked straight at her with a knowing smiled but then looked away again. If he had actually seen her he wasn't telling anyone. Instead he turned back to the other three adults.

"Great, now we've got all the husband/wife disagreements over and done with, how are we going to sort this out? You've gotta admit though, on the plus side you've got me."

"Explain to me _why_ having you around is going to help?" asked Sora, raising his eyebrows at the Nobody. Axel smiled.

"You have insider knowledge, someone committed to making sure that brat gets her comeuppance _and_ a fire-wielding member of the Organisation she is determined on bringing back. I know all of them, their weaknesses and everything. If you ask me, Sora, I'd say that you'd be struggling without me." Sora sighed. Axel had a point but he didn't want to admit it. Despite the fact that Axel had died primarily to save him and Kairi from certain death, he wasn't exactly sure he could trust him. How did he know he wasn't working with this Fifteenth member, Roxenasha? Axel had his own agendas anyway; things weren't going to be as simple as he made out. However at this point he had no real choice but to trust him: at least for now. Sora nodded and Axel grinned.

"All right," he said.

"Sora," called Riku. Sora turned to Riku, who had looked up into the sky.

"What is it?"

"They're here."

Sori took the advantage of the adult's attention and the noise to run back towards her brother and sister. Mizu looked confused but Kazé just smiled as if a vague memory had stirred in her heart. It was a noise unlike any Sori had heard before but there was something slightly familiar about it still. Kazé grinned and looked up into the sky as she saw lights flickering there (lights apart from the stars) and said one word that felt right, as though someone had told her when she was small.

"Gummi," she smiled, and gestured her siblings further back. The adults had already taken several steps back as a red and yellow machine descended from the sky and landed smoothly on the beach, but throwing up sand in the downdraught. Doors opened and Sora stepped ahead of the others, grinning like he was a child again. Those on the beach squinted through the doors but the first thing they heard were the voices.

"Howdy, Guys!"

"Long time no see."

Sora laughed involuntarily and ran up the gangway towards the two figures descending from the gummi ship, and threw his arms around them.

"Donald! Goofy!" Kairi laughed slightly at the three of them as Sora let them go.

"Garwsh Sora," said Goofy. "It's been a long time since we've seen each other." Sora was still laughing with joy of seeing them again. Kazé then suddenly felt somebody elbow her in the stomach. Mizu was creeping closer, with Sori right behind him. Why was she here again? She followed.

"It's great to see you again," smiled Kairi, hugging Donald as both he and Goofy came down off the ship. Riku stepped up to them.

"Is the king here?"

"Uh-uh," Donald shook his head.

"He knows though," asked Sora.

"Of course he does," said Goofy. "He went ahead."

"Where's he gone?" asked Riku. "Do you know?"

"Yep," Goofy nodded.

"He went to speak to Master Yen Sid, but he told us to meet him at the Keyblade Graveyard. He gave us the coordinates already."

"Graveyard..." mumbled Sora, as if it sounded familiar to him.

"He knows about that Organisation girl then?" asked Kairi.

"No," said Goofy. "But he knew about the Heartless."

"Why?" asked Sora. "What're they doing?"

"Well, they're beginning to show up in large groups again," said Goofy.

"And that hasn't happened for years," added Donald. "The King knew something bad was happening so he went ahead to find out what."

"I could tell you that. You could just ask," put in Axel. Donald and Goofy noticed him for the first time and stared.

"It's OK. He's with us," said Sora, not even sure he was convinced himself. "He came to us to tell us about the others."

"Yeah," said Axel. "The Organisation is reforming because not all of us were dead."

"What do you mean?" asked Donald.

"I mean that there's a seriously disturbed kid in a black coat seeking revenge for her dead Mom and Dad; both being part of said Organisation and that's gonna lead to trouble. Got it memorised?"

"We'll have to speak to the King," said Riku, turning to Donald and Goofy. "Can we go to meet him?"

"Uh-huh," Donald nodded. Sora smiled. "Then let's go."

"Coast is clear. C'mon, let's go," whispered Mizu, and both he and Sori rushed forwards. Kazé grabbed her sister's arm.

"What're you doing?" she whispered in an urgent voice. Sori nodded in her brother's general direction.

"Mizu's idea."

"What?"

"No one's looking. We can get on that ship-thingie."

"Sori, are you completely out of your mind?"

"It'll make sure we stay with them, Kazé, and that's what we agreed on right? You're not chickening out now are you?"

"I'm not chickening out. I am being sensible about this," said Kazé. Mizu noticed his sisters had stopped and hovered by the base of the Gummi Ship to wait for them. Sori looked at her sister.

"We agreed to be in this together, Kazé," she said, disappointed. "You said you'd come with us and the only way we're doing it is by getting on that ship."

"I'm not arguing with that," was Kazé's reply. "It's just I wish to be sure that you're both OK, and the thing is I know what you two can be like."

"I don't know what you mean," said Sori, sounding vaguely offended. "Anyway, let's get on board before anyone notices."

All three of them made it to the ship unobserved and slipped into the hull, heading into the belly of the ship. Mizu had reckoned (quite sensibly, thought Kazé) that that would be the best place to hide. Sori kept an eye on the outside of the ship watching the adults and the two newcomers out on the sand. There was a vague familiarity about them, but she couldn't place what it was. They all turned to go back to the upper levels, indicating the others to get down she watched them go past, flippers, trainers and boots. Everyone was still cautious of Axel. Even the newcomers kept throwing him suspicious glances. Nobody observed their stowaways though. Good. Sori slipped away from the window and gave her siblings the thumbs up. Kazé was sat quietly in a corner, staring at her knees, but Mizu had already started exploring his new environment. He looked up at Sori, out of the box he had been rummaging through, and a grin split his face.

"Woohoo!" he leapt up and punched the air, getting a violent "SSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" from Kazé off in her corner. "Sorry," he whispered at her. "I just can't wait."

"Two of us!" laughed Sori, jumping over several boxes to talk to him properly. "This is so cool."

Kazé sat and watched the other two for a while, wondering again why she was letting them go, or even why she was with them. She was quite content to remain on the island, but the other two had too much of an adventurous taste. Kazé sighed and got up, looking out at the sea from the window. Sori glanced over Mizu's shoulder and came up to her.

"What is it, Sis?" she asked. "Nervous?"

"A little," she responded, both knowing full well she meant "a lot".

"Hey," said Mizu. "What could go wrong?" Kazé sighed.

"I don't know," she said. "But I'm sure a lot of things. We could get lost, captured, or worse. Don't you think that Mom and Dad wanted to keep us out of this for a reason. You know she's dangerous, that girl." Sori nodded.

"Yeah, but..."

The floor of the Gummi Ship started vibrating.

"Sorry, we're out of time," grinned Sori, jumping over to look properly out of the window. Mizu leapt across the room to watch as well. He leaned in, being smaller than his two older sisters, as the three of them watched the sand and waves fall away. Kazé's blue eyes were reflecting the moonlit ocean and Sori's the twinkling lights of the stars in the sky. Mizu looked away from his sisters and down at the last glimmers of the ocean before looking up towards the sky. The beach of the Island was gone before any of the three could really take it in, and the Gummi Ship flew away into the stars. Their world was far behind them now. Now where were they going? Only time would really tell.


	8. Chapter VIII: Veiled Darkness

***WeepingAngelXIII would like to dedicate this chapter to Immy, who really loves my OCs and encourages me to keep writing my story."**

"So?" came the voice of the Knight from somewhere in the darkness of the hall. "Verdict?"

The others remained silent, although several silhouettes shifted uncomfortably.

"I don't trust her," put in the Scientist bluntly. "What reason does she have for being honest? Besides, she's a Nobody."

"Nobodies can't be trusted," added the Strategist in a monotone.

"Exactly."

The Reaper leaned forward on his chair and opened his dark and empty eyes, in contrast to his pale skin.

"Then why did she come and ask for assistance? She may not have a heart, Even, but she's not all-powerful."

"That does make sense," put in the Bard. "If she was she would have killed us all."

"She liked trying to act omnipotent I noticed," muttered the Assassin, tapping his black painted fingernails on the arm of his throne.

"I'm with Mari. I don't think we can pass it up," said the only female in the room. The Mother leant back on her chair and grinned. "I like her."

"_You_ would," muttered the Ace, and flicked a whole deck of cards between his fingers. The Mother gave him a hostile glare.

"What was that, Rould?"

"Nothing."

"Guardian?" asked the Marksman, looking at the silent occupant of the seat that had formally belonged to Ansem. The Guardian scraped his long nails along the edge of the chair and looked up. The other ten were watching him closely.

"She's definitely up to something," he said. "Nobodies are medalling plotters."

"I remember," said the Bard, disguising a shiver, but was prevented from elaborating by a gesture from the Assassin. Without apparently noticing, the Guardian continued.

"She wasn't one of the Original Thirteen..."

"Does that make her any different?"

"Even..." The Stratagist sounded bored. The Scientist sighed and looked back at the Guardian, but this time the Knight jumped in.

"I trust you remember what happened last time we allied ourselves with the Nobodies. We were slaughtered."

"He does have a point there," said the Fighter.

"Yeah," added the Marksman. "And it's taken us twenty years to build our armies back up to size." The Mother spat.

"Keybladers," she hissed.

"If they're involved, we're all screwed," mutted the Marksman. "Look what happened to Ansem."

"People!" yelled the Assassin and everyone went silent. Everyone looked back at the Guardian, who was drumming his nails on the chair and then spoke again, his bright yellow eyes flashing.

"I think," he said in a dangerous tone, lips drawn back from his pointed fangs, "that we need to keep an eye on her. She is of course a Nobody, which makes her an automatic threat."

"Speaking of her, where is she anyway?" asked the Bard. The Marksman shrugged.

"No idea," he said. "I think she left the world though."

"That means she could be anywhere..."

"**SILENCE!**"

Nineteen frightened yellow eyes snapped back to the Guardian, who seemed to have finally snapped. "Now," he growled. "Someone find me that girl or they will meet the same end as my Master!"

"No need. She's here," came the voice from the other end of the chamber. Everyone looked around. The black-cloaked Nobody grinned and approached the Guardian's chair. The Assassin kept his eyes on her, noticing that as she passed the chairs belonging to the Reaper and the Mother, that her turquoise eyes rested for a moment upon each one. His eyes narrowed as she stopped and looked up at the Guardian.

"Missing me already?" she smiled. "Beautiful." There was a silence. "You still don't trust me?" Roxenasha gave a mirthless laugh. "Trust me. This is good for you. It's all in your interest."  
"Somehow I seriously doubt that," said the Ace. Roxenasha waved her hand vaguely without so much as glancing at him.

"Yes, you are slightly right there. This is for me, but I know you want power back, and if you do me a little favour, you can do whatever you want to. Have you accepted my offer?"

"The armies are ready," said the Assassin. "We all know where we want to go."

"And the worlds I requested."

"Five?" asked the Guardian.

"Six," corrected Roxenasha. "But this world can be yours again. I have no real need for it, save for Ansem's castle at Radiant Garden. The rest is all yours."

"You never explained why," said the Scientist. The Nobody smiled.

"That's none of your concern, Vexen." The Scientist stood up, yellow eyes ablaze.

"How _**DARE**_ you use that name..."

"Sit... down," growled the Guardian and very slowly the Scientist sat back down. Roxenasha looked at the Guardian again.

"My presence in those worlds is only required for certain items of magical potential. That is all."

"And Kingdom Hearts?" asked the Knight, asking the question that no one yet had wanted to. Roxenasha threw back her head and laughed a high cold and cruel laugh that closely resembled that of the Mother's.

"Kingdom Hearts?" she laughed. "Why would I want a heart? I am much more powerful without it. I have no niggling conscience, moral crises or guilt I have to answer to, and frankly I prefer it. I am not Xemnas, Dilan. Neither do I answer to him. I answer to no one but my family. All of your little minions will be safe from me. Now, what do you say?" There was a very long pause in which the ten Generals and Roxenasha all stared at the Guardian. The finally he spoke.

"Done."

"What?" came several disbelieving voices. Roxenasha smiled.

"I knew you would," she grinned. "Good deal. No loopholes. Anyway, I've got places to be, but I'll keep you posted, Petal. I promise. Bye." She waved slightly and disappeared into a dark corridor. Everyone immediately turned to the Guardian, but nobody wanted to voice their opinion first. Surprisingly it was the Guardian himself who broke the silence. He had been staring at the point where Roxenasha had been standing with an expression of absolute hatred on his face.

"Every time I see that woman I am torn with the debate to kiss or kill her," he growled.

"If I was you, I'd probably take both," murmured the Marksman in an undertone.

"Braig, shut up," added the Knight, by way of a warning. The Assassin looked at the Guardian.

"Sir?"

"I don't trust her," the Guardian decided. "For each one of the worlds she requested, I want a General heading the army. The rest stays here to guard the fortress."

"But what do we do regarding the Castle at Radiant Garden?" put in the Strategist, leaning forward. "We can't relinquish it that easily, and besides, do you think she knows about..."

"No," said the Guardian. "But as long as that SOLDIER is here, we're safe."  
"He's not."

"Why?"

"Don't know. But Leonheart..."  
"Is not good enough. And Zack Fair is dead. We need a SOLDIER as a defender, whether they know what they are protecting or not. Somehow we need to get him back. He is the only person (aside from that Keyblader) who has ever defeated Sephiroth. And considering it matters so much to... WHAT IS THAT THING DOING IN HERE?"

Everyone looked around to try and see what he was looking at. It turned out that a crimson tangent had just zoomed into the chamber and straight towards the Assassin's chair. The Assassin bit his black lips.

"Sorry," he apologised. "Won't happen again." Then he addressed the Tangent. "What is it?" The Tangent did a little dance in midair, meaning little to the others, but seemingly something to the Assassin. He raised his eyebrows. "Really?" he asked, and then stood up. The Tangent vanished, as if fleeing for its existence. "Sorry, Guardian, but this is important. Something's come up in Enchanted Dominion."

"What exactly?" The Assassin smiled.

"_He_ is there." The Guardian nodded.

"Deal with it," he said, and the Assassin disappeared down a dark corridor. The Guardian smiled. "We'll deal with the Nobody."


	9. Chapter IX: The Birth of Heroes

"Kazé, wake up!"

"Huh?" Someone was shaking her. Kazé opened her blue eyes and gave her brother a bleary look.

"What is it, Mizu?"

"We're here."

"Oh." Kazé sat up. She couldn't remember falling asleep but she clearly must have done. Outside the Gummi Ship light flooded through the windows: sunlight. Wherever they were now it was day. Sori slipped down into the hold to join her siblings.

"Everyone upstairs has cleared off," she said. "They've gone out."

"Where are we?" asked Mizu. Sori shrugged.

"Let's look."

Kazé was the nearest to the window and stared out. Her brother and sister joined her. Mizu's jaw dropped.

"Woah!" he said.

"We are definitely not on the Islands anymore," Kazé added and continued staring.

Sand. That pretty much summed up what they could see: sand and rocks. As far as the eye could see was a large expanse of sandy nothingness and cliff faces. Desolated silence was disturbed by nothing but the sound of the wind. Sori looked across the ground.

"Are those...?" she asked but didn't have to complete the sentence. Kazé nodded. The ground was covered in keyblades: thousands of them. The three kids ogled at them. Kazé swallowed slightly and cast her eyes over the thousands of abandoned weapons. Weapons of light and darkness, ornate and plain, proud and noble weapons, half buried in the sand, but all abandoned and cold, as if nothing was left for them. She spoke to her siblings without taking her hands off them.

"Something bad happened here," she said. "I can feel it."

"I'm going to look," said Sori, but it was without her usual enthusiasm. Something in the sight of those keyblades had affected her too, but she tried not to show it. "Coming Mizu?" Mizu nodded and followed her. Kazé stared at the keyblades for a few more seconds and then joined her siblings as they left the Gummi Ship.

The wind outside was strong but not cold. Kazé shivered slightly though. Ghosts lived in this place. Sori stepped forward from the Gummi Ship and looked at her siblings with her adventurous light rekindling.

"This is so cool," she said.

"Another world..." murmured Mizu, looking uncharacteristically pensive. "I didn't think they'd be this empty."

"It's not empty," said Kazé, looking around. "There's something here with us. Besides, Mom, Dad and the others would be here too."

"Good point," said Sori, pointing at her sister. "And we promised to protect them. We're gonna have to find them." Kazé folded her arms in an attempt to look stubborn.

"Sori, if you think we're going to be splitting up in an unfamiliar world with an overhanging feeling of apprehension, you have another thing..."

"I'll go that way," called Sori and ran off in the direction of the cliff.

"SORI! GET BACK HERE!" yelled Kazé, her voice echoing over the landscape, but her sister paid her no attention. "Stay here," she ordered her brother and ran after her younger sister. Mizu also ignored his older sister's command and followed Kazé at a run.

Donald and Goofy led the way to the crossroads with Sora and the others behind them. Kairi was gripping Sora's hand very tightly. She felt uncomfortable around Axel; Sora didn't blame her either. She was worried, and he was at the prospect of putting his wife in danger. Riku looked indifferent, almost as if he was sixteen again. His friend's readiness made Sora smile slightly, in spite of himself. Axel was also being uncharacteristically quiet. Sora knew that the battle with Roxenasha had drained him, but the fact that Axel was not saying anything made Sora worry. He was thinking. But about what?

As the crossroads loomed closer, a small figure waiting at the point where the two roads crossed came into sight. His big round ears made him indistinguishable. The King was here. On hearing them approach, he turned around and smiled at them all.

"Hiya, Guys," he said. "It's good to see you." Then he noticed Axel. "What...?"

"It's OK. He's with us," said Sora again. Axel gave a slight wave.

"I thought you could use a little help." King Mickey looked back at Sora.

"I guess ya know then?"

"About the Fifteenth? Yep."

"Definitely," put in Riku. "She's no angel. We've met her."

"She wants to reform the Organisation," added Axel. "I was her experiment. It's Marluxia she really wants back."

"Who?" asked Sora, looking confused. Axel sighed.

"Mar-lu-xia," he said, one syllable at a time. "Number XI, Graceful Assassin and Lord of Castle Oblivion. Got it memorised? Seriously, he's probably worse than Xemnas. He doesn't actually want a heart."

"So the Heartless are just a diversion?" asked Riku. Axel nodded.

"Yep. An Organisation under Marluxia would not search for a heart. They would just destroy. Larxene for one enjoys killing things."

"So we stop them," said Sora.

"How?" asked Donald.

"Yeah," butted in Kairi. "You've seen their Fifteenth fight. She's not going to be easy to take down."

"So what do we do then?" asked Goofy. He and Donald looked at the King. Mickey looked slightly disheartened.

"I have been to Master Yen Sid," he said. "The Heartless have already left Radiant Garden and they're spreading across the worlds."

"We have to stop them," said Kairi. Axel clapped sarcastically.

"That's exactly what she wants, Kairi."

"I don't think we really have a choice," said Riku.

"Yeah," said Sora. "We've managed to bring Heartless and Nobodies down before together."

"Which brings me straight to our other problem," said Axel. Everyone looked at him.

"Other problem?" asked Riku. "You never said anything about another problem."

"Yeah, well," shrugged Axel. "You know about Number XV. You also know she's involving the Heartless. She went to the Heartless Generals, and they've agreed to an alliance."

"Please tell me you're kidding," said Sora. "Nobodies and Heartless together?" Axel nodded.

"Rumours were she went to Enchanted Dominion, killed Maleficent, and got herself sufficient power to entice in the Heartless."

"Who are the Generals?" asked Riku.

"Xehanort's Heartless had eleven underlings that controlled each an army of Heartless. After he was destroyed, the most powerful of those took leadership: the Guardian."

"Great," said Riku. Sora looked thoughtful and then cast an eye at Donald and Goofy, then at the King.

"What about Radiant Garden?" he asked. "We have friends there, and very capable ones. If we can get there..."

"It's a good place to start," said Donald.

"I wonder how Leon and Cloud and the others are?" asked Goofy. The King nodded.

"Yeah," he said. "But it's not that easy. The Heartless Castle is there too and they've blocked our way there. We'd have to fight our way though Enchanted Dominion and some other worlds to get there." Sora shrugged.

"Never been there," he said. "It'd be a change."

"Shall we go?" asked Kairi. Mickey nodded and then a blood-curdling scream sprang up on the other side of the cliff followed by a cry of terror.

"I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY! I DIDN'T MEAN IT!" Kairi's eyes widened.

"That's Sori!" she stated, voice filled with panic, but Sora had already set off running.

"SORI!"

Sori rounded the corner at the foot of the cliff and looked around at the beautiful keyblades there. She knelt down, seeing one glistening in the sand. It looked newer than the others. Sori grasped it by the hilt and pulled it up out of the ground. It shone in the sun, brown and silver metal glistening.

"Wow!" she said out loud and held it up in the air, slashing at invisible enemies with it. It was amazing. Heavier than she had expected and made her arms hurt after a while (probably made for someone bigger than she was). Wait till Kazé and Mizu saw this. She tried to carry it off, but the wind grew stronger. At first she thought it was just coincidence but then she realised the wind direction didn't make sense. It was coming from behind her, but it couldn't. There was a cliff face there. Sori whirled around. The wind was coming from the point where she had taken the keyblade. She didn't move, all she could do was call out. "Kazé!" she said. Kazé, near enough to hear her replied.

"What?"

"You know when you get that feeling that you may have touched something that you really shouldn't do."

"Why?" asked Kazé. Mizu outran his sister and pelted around the corner where Sori was staring.

"Uh oh."

There now seemed to be a shape within the wind: the shape of someone kneeling down and reaching for something. Kazé also rounded the corner, glanced at the shape in the wind and then at the keyblade in her sister's hand.

"What did you touch that thing for?"  
"It looked cool."

"Drop it now!" Sori dropped the keyblade with a clang and the three of them stepped back. The shape within the wind was a definite thing now. It was a person, or something that had once been. A suit of armour stood up from the floor and took steps towards it. Kazé screamed loudly, a scream that her father heard on the other side of the cliff. Sori cried out in terror and pleaded.

"I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY! I DIDN'T MEAN IT!" The armour didn't heed them. It stopped where Sori had dropped the keyblade, bent down to pick it up and then looked back up at them. "We're gonna die," whispered Sori. Mizu looked to his right and grabbed at the closest keyblade to him. It shone gold and silver in the sun, twisted like tongues of fire in an ornate pattern. The suit of armour stopped.

"Good," said Mizu. Then it raised its keyblade. "Oh no."

Sori dived out of the way and laid hand on two keyblades lying on her left.

"Kazé," she threw the one in her left hand to her sister who caught it. It shone like white and yellow like starlight, sparkling along the blade and a lot more delicate and ornate than her brother's or her sister's. Sori's keyblade was blue, and looked a lot bigger than either of her siblings' and its blade curved like a crescent moon. Sori stood behind her brother, waiting to defend him if she needed to, but it turned out she didn't.

"NO!" Kazé risked a look in the direction of the voice. It was Dad, and he was looking straight at the armour. It stopped moving, but didn't lower its keyblade. Riku rounded the corner too, his keyblade raised. The armour moved its helmet to look at him and then knelt down, placing its keyblade back into the ground and it dissolved into sad. Sori swallowed.

"What was that?" she asked.

"A ghost," ventured Kazé. Sora looked at the three of them, each holding a keyblade and raised his eyebrows. Mizu gave him a shaky smile.

"Hi, Dad."

"What're you doing here?" he asked. Kairi rounded the corner too and stared at her three children with disbelief.

"How did you three get here?" she asked. Mizu indicated the general direction of the Gummi Ship, but didn't say anything. Axel arrived next and laughed slightly.

"Hello again, Kazé." Kazé said nothing, but continued looking from her mother to her father, waiting for someone to say something. All three of them felt uncomfortable and waited for an end to the silence that didn't seem to come.

"Sora?" came the silence breaker. The voice was unfamiliar. Kazé looked to try and see who it was. He was small, non-human, more like a mouse, but Kazé guessed who it was.

"King Mickey?" she asked, curtsying slightly. Mizu smiled and Sori waved slightly. Neither of them it seemed, really knew what to do. Dad looked at the King.

"Yes, Your Majesty?" King Mickey looked at the children.

"Who..."

"Going straight back home," said Sora. Sori and Mizu opened their mouths to complain loudly. But Sora cut them off again. "Do you know what that was?" he indicated the spot from where the suit of armour had vanished. All three shook their heads. "That was the lingering sediment of a very powerful keyblader, whose vengeful spirit lives in his armour."

"Oh," said Sori.

"You could have been killed," said Kairi.

"But we weren't," smiled Mizu, earning himself a silencing look from his eldest sister. Sora looked at them.

"Put those keyblades down. You're going back home."  
"What?" said all three children.

"We came to help," said Kazé. "We weren't here to mess around."

"But you could have been killed," said Kairi. "And we don't want any of you hurt." She held out her hand. "Come on." Sori sighed.

"Well, that lasted long," she muttered, and dropped her keyblade with a clang, but just as it hit the ground (almost as if the keyblade itself refused to be left behind) it jumped back into her hand. Sori stared. Mizu dropped his too, the same thing happened. Kazé put hers down onto the floor as an experiment and hers too jumped back. Axel laughed. Sora glared at him.

"What's so funny?"

"I don't think those keyblades are gonna go quietly," he said. "It's almost as if they want them to come. As soon as they touched those keyblades, they became the successors to the original owners, I guess."  
"So, no matter how hard we try and give these up," said Kazé, dropping her keyblade and watching it snap back into her hand. "They now belong to us always." Axel shrugged.

"I dunno. I'm not an expert, Kazé. But being children of keybladers does make you automatically applicable to inherit a keyblade when you need it."

"And we need it now," said Sori. "We're coming with you, Dad, no matter what you say."

"Sori, you're only fourteen."

"So were you, if you remember. You saved the worlds at fourteen. My turn now."

"I'll look after them," said Kazé. "I promise." Sora looked at Kairi and then at King Mickey. King Mickey smiled.

"You'll never know if you never let them," he said. Sora sighed.

"All right," he said. "But stay out of trouble."

"Oh yeah!" yelled Sori, doing a victory dance with her keyblade.

"And be careful where you wave those things," added Axel, taking a step out of Sori's reach. Riku looked at the King.

"Donald? Goofy?"

"They went back to the Gummi Ship. They're preparing for the journey."

"What's in Enchanted Dominion?" asked Kairi. The King smiled.

"It is the home world of one of the Princesses of Heart."

"Aurora?" ventured Sora's guess.

"Yep."

"Let's go then," yelled Sori. "I CAN'T WAIT TO KILL SOME HEARTLESS!" Sora watched her run back towards the Gummi Ship and Mizu follow her.

"Something's telling me that I'm gonna regret saying they could come," he sighed.

"Oh, you'll get used to it," grinned Axel, and followed the two younger children at a walk.


	10. Chapter X: Enchanted Dominion

"Wooooooooooooooooowwwwwwwwww!" Sori drew out the word into one long sound as she entered the cockpit. There were so many different shiny looking buttons levers and the like. Sori rushed around the cockpit, keyblade still in hand and poked at various things in an attempt to find out what they were.

"Hey!"

"Ow!" Sori swiftly withdrew her left hand from a button and examined the small red mark on her finger. At first she thought she must have caught it on something, but then she remembered the voice that had called out and looked around. There was no one there.

"Down here!" Sori looked down and saw two rather annoyed looking chipmunks standing on the console in front of her.

"Do you know what any of these things could do?" one of them asked.

"Yeah," added the other one. "Anything could happen,"

"I'm ... sorry," said Sori, looking very surprised by the chipmunks. "Who are you?"

"Chip 'n' Dale."

"Nice to meet you. Sorry, about the buttons. I'm just overexcited."

"Yeah?" asked Dale, looking eager.

"I just can't wait to explore other worlds," she said. She thought about sitting down in one of the chairs, but then thought against it. "Where was it the King said we were going? Enchanted... Something."

"Enchanted Dominion?" asked Chip, and Dale bounced off to the navigation computers. Sori nodded.

"Yeah. That was it I think. Do you know what's there?"

"That's where the Princess Aurora lives."

"She's one of the Princesses of Heart, right? Like Mom?"

"Kairi too, yeah," nodded Dale, and bounded back across the console, having set the navigation computer.

"She's queen now. Princess Aurora that is," said Chip.

"Really?" The chipmunks nodded.

"Yep," they said together.

"Sori!" Mizu catapulted into the room, still holding his keyblade too. "Quit running so fast!" Then he noticed the chipmunks. "Uh... hi."

"Hi!" Dale waved at him.

"Yeah..." Mizu looked back at his sister. "Kazé's behind me and the others are behind her. They shouldn't be too long."

"OK," said Sori, and sat down in one of the chairs, swinging it all the way around. I can't wait!"

Sori and Mizu both took an instant liking to the cockpit and zooming through the cosmos. Kazé was less drawn in. All that was going through her mind now was the fact that her siblings were wearing her out. They were both far too childish. Kazé left the cockpit, leaving her parents to deal with the out-of-control children, and went to find a place to herself. It was surprisingly quiet out of the cockpit. Kazé sat down and held out her arm, summoning her keyblade again and looking at it. It felt heavier than it had before somehow. She sighed.

"Was this a mistake," she asked herself out loud. "I don't know if I'm cut out for this. But I promised to look after them."

"Isn't that good enough?" came the unexpected reply. Kazé started and looked up to see Axel watching her. He sat down by her side and looked at her. She shrugged and continued without looking at him.

"Dunno. I'm not sure I'm brave enough."

"You have that thing, right?" Axel waved at the keyblade in her hands. Kazé looked at the shining white again.

"Does that make me brave?" she asked.

"We'll find out," he said, raising his injured left arm. "You value your siblings, and you have heart. That's something I'm not going to be getting back in a hurry." He clicked his fingers and a tiny flame lit on the edge of his fingers. Kazé turned and watched the tiny flame writhe on the tips of his fingers and then spoke.

"How's your arm?" she asked. Axel shrugged.

"Better than what you would have taken it," he replied. "That's the advantage of being a Nobody. We don't bleed. Still hurt though."

"Will it get better then?" asked Kazé. Axel nodded.

"Should do. Plus I really want her to know how it feels." He looked sideways. "Go on. Smile." Kazé smiled slightly.

"I'm still afraid," she said. "I don't like the idea of fighting the Heartless, Nobodies and especially not the Organisation themselves. I'm not Sori, or Mizu for that matter." Axel smiled.

"You'll be fine," he said, standing up and patting her on the shoulder as he got up and walked back to the cockpit. Kazé didn't move though. She didn't move until they had landed.

Kazé was the first one out of the Gummi ship after the landing. The grass brushed against her feet as she stepped out into the green tinted sunlight of a wood. The air smelt sweet, like spring flowers. It seemed peaceful: not at all like she had imagined it. Kairi walked down from the ship and joined her daughter on the grass. Kazé smiled at her.

"It's beautiful." Kairi nodded in agreement.

"It's quiet," she said. "Where are they?"

"They?"

"The King said that the Heartless held this world. If that's the case then… where are they?" Kaze thought. Yes. Where were they? Suddenly the pretty little wood seemed cold and empty and the only thing Kazé could hear (aside from Sori and Mizu clattering down the gangway to have a look at this new world) was the wind rustling the leaves on the branches of the trees. It was too quiet for a wood almost.

_What happened to the birds?_ she wondered. Sori noticed too.

"Why's it so quiet?" she asked rather loudly, resulting in her mother shushing her. Riku was next to join them on the grass. He cast his eyes around the wood but didn't say anything. Mizu brought his keyblade to rest on his shoulder with an impressive sounding swish and looked up at him.

"Riku?"

"Yeah?"

"Where're the Heartless?"

"That's a good question. But they could still be here for all we know?"

"Huh?"

"You don't have to see them for them to be here. The King said they were here, so I'm guessing they are."

Kazé summoned her keyblade almost inadvertently. Her contentedness of only a few minutes before had vanished completely. Kairi summoned hers too and stood still, just looking around. Sori looked back up the gangway and waved as the King came down the gangway. Donald and Goofy were behind him and Sora behind them.

"Where's Axel?" asked Sori.

"Here." A dark corridor whooshed open behind Sori and Axel stood there grinning. "And yep. There's Heartless here."

"How do you know?" asked Donald.

"Trust me on this," said Axel. "I saw a few in the dark corridors. Besides, I don't like the quiet. So when do we start cleanup?"

"When we find them," said Sora as though this was obvious.

"So are we going to just step around blindly?" asked Kairi. "Nobody here has ever come here before. Shouldn't we at least find someone?"

"But there's no one around," said Sori. "Besides which way do we go? We're in the middle of a wood. How do we know which way's out and which way's further in?" There was a silence.

"I dunno, Sori," said Goofy after a while. A scream broke the air. Everyone looked in the direction it came from.

"Something is telling me that way is a good place to start," said Axel, summoning his chakrams in two wheels of fire, and everyone set off at a run.

A chestnut-haired girl stood in a glade not far away, clinging to her basket as though it was the only thing in the world that could protect her. Her blue dress seemed rather out of place to them. Blue was an odd colour for a dress like that. She was cowering away from a circle of Heartless creatures that had surrounded her. Riku summoned Way to the Dawn and looked ran forwards, hacking down a soldier. The others followed him into the fray as the Heartless now turned their attention from the girl and flew straight towards Riku. Kazé ran to the girl, who was frozen in fear.

"Come on!" she cried and pulled at the girl's arm. She barely moved. She was still shaking.

"Kazé!" It was Mom. Kairi tried to escape the tangle of shadows around her to try and reach her daughter but to little avail. Kazé looked up.

"I'm just getting her out of here. Help." Kairi brought her Keyblade around, destroying two Heartless in the process, and tried to fight her way towards Kazé. Sori and Mizu were slashing at Heartless (both looking as if their birthdays had come early).

"Thunder!" Everyone took a step back from their opponents as Donald cast his spell. Most of the Heartless disintegrated under the lightning strikes across their battle field, but just as the Heartless fell, more appeared out of dark corridors.

"Oh, COME ON!" yelled Sora, looking annoyed.

"That means there's probably more Heartless here than we thought," said the King, jumping backwards and readying his own keyblade for attack. Axel shrugged.

"We can take them," he said, throwing two fiery chakrams across the field. Kazé pulled the girl across the field and into the woods. Kairi tried to reach her, but more Heartless emerged and blocked her path. Kairi raised her keyblade again and cut at them but they were determined not to let her past. Kazé looked back with despair but then made up her mind and pulled the girl further away. Kairi, knowing what she must do, retreated and stood back with the others.

"Where's Kazé?" asked Sora.

"Escaped with that girl," said Kairi. "I'm going after her as soon as I can. Where's Sori?"

"Was she not with you?"

"No. I thought she'd gone to help you."

"And Mizu?"

"He was with Sori last time I saw him."

"So now where are they?"

"I'll go and look for them," said Riku. "They can't be far." He struggled out of the battle and headed off in the direction he had last seen the two of them. That left Sora and Kairi with Axel, Donald, Goofy and King Mickey. The Heartless were still coming. Donald sighed.

"Not again," he said. All of them were getting tired now, but nobody was going to give up. Sora brought up a second keyblade and dived back into the action. Donald and Goofy followed him. King Mickey somersaulted past the three of them and killed three Heartless, before they even knew what was going on. Kairi raised Destiny's Embrace in a defensive position. Axel lost patience and summoned his fire throwing balls of flame straight into the middle of the crowd of Heartless. The Heartless that weren't caught up in the flames scattered and were destroyed by magic, shield chakram or keyblade. Finally, after what seemed like ages, there was only one left. The Scarlet Tangent hung in the air facing them and then vanished, a chakram hitting the tree just behind where it had just been hovering.

"Damn," hissed Axel, marching back up to his chakram and pulling it out of the tree. "That's not gonna be good."

"What do you mean?" asked Kairi.

"That guy himself won't bother me, but it's what he'll tell the others, I'm worried about."

"So," said the King. "We'll need to leave before one of them has the chance to arrive."

"The Generals?" asked Donald. Axel nodded.

"At least one."

"So let's find the others," said Goofy. "Then we can get outta here as soon as we can."

"I'll go after Kazé," said Kairi.

"I'll come with you," said Sora.

"And so will we," said Donald, and Goofy nodded. Kairi shook her head.

"I'll go on my own. I'll be fine."  
"Kairi..."

"Sora, I'll be fine. I'm capable. Besides, if we carry on like this, who else is going to help find people? If I go after Kazé, you guys can find if anyone else is around. Riku'll probably head back anyway when he's found the other two. Kazé'll be safe. I promise." Kairi kissed Sora on the cheek and ran off into the trees. Sora looked at Axel and then at the King.

"Now what?" he asked him.

"Clear the path," he answered. "We'll need to do that to stand a chance at getting to Radiant Garden." Axel nodded and then began to walk off.

"And where are you going?" asked Donald, tapping his webbed feet impatiently. Axel turned back with a small smile.

"To find someone?" he asked. Sora opened his mouth to say something but the King pulled on his sleeve to attract his attention.

"I'll watch him. It's OK," he said. Sora nodded.

"Be careful, Your Majesty," Goofy put in. The King nodded in acknowledgement and followed Axel. Sora looked to his friends, Donald and Goofy, the only ones left.

"Just like old times," he said, and they both nodded.

Kazé checked behind her. The Heartless didn't seem to be following them, so she decided to stop running. The girl still looked frightened, but slightly less-so now that she was away from the Heartless. She wrapped her arms around the basket and sat down on a log, shivering slightly. Kazé put away her keyblade away and sat down beside her.

"Are you all right," she asked. The girl looked up, he chestnut curls cascading down her shoulders. On closer inspection she didn't look much older than Kazé: sixteen at the most.

"What _were_ those things?" she asked. "Who sent them?"

"Heartless," Kazé replied. "But they're gone now. I'm Kazé by the way."

"My name's Rose: Princess Rose. I live just over that hill." She gestured though the now-thinning trees to a hill beyond a tall castle.

"In the castle?" asked Kazé. Rose shook her head.

"No. That's my Grandfather's castle. My Grandmother lives there still, but it is nowhere near as busy as our castle. I live on the other side of the hill."

"Oh," Kazé smiled. "Should I take you back there?" The young princess shook her head.

"No. It may be better to go to the castle of my Grandmother. It's the nearest and we will be safer there." She stood up and let her basket swing down to her side. "You're not from this kingdom, are you?"

"No, Your Highness." Rose laughed slightly.

"You don't have to call me that," she said. "We're friends now, Kazé. Just call me Rose."

"Thank you, Rose." Rose smiled at her.

"I suppose we will meet up with Edward there."

"Who's Edward?" asked Kazé.

"My brother. He was in the woods too. He is strong though. I know he'll have made it out all right." She set off walking. "Come on, Kazé," she smiled. "I'll show you were a queen lives."

Sori and Mizu had broken away from the main battle to follow a group of Heartless soldiers into the wood when they had left. They had got so into their fighting that now they were lost. The two of them kept close together and tried to follow the sound of the Heartless that they knew were reselling in the trees and the grass. They were walking slowly now, and careful of where they went. Mizu knew that with every step he took he was getting more and more lost. Maybe that was what the Heartless had wanted all the long? No. He dismissed the thought. That made him feel to uncomfortable.

Before long the two of them had found another clearing on the edge of a river. The river moved slowly and almost silently in the stillness and there (Sori jumped for joy) beside the river was a little cottage. Sori sprinted across the field and banged on the door, Mizu right behind her.

"Hello," she called, but there was no reply.

"Hello..." Mizu also said, but slightly more quietly than his sister. Sori gave the door a slight push and it slid open. It looked as though someone had lived here. The rooms they could see showed all furniture and everything else was still arranged as it should be if someone was living there. They first considered that the owners of the cottage may be out and then they noticed the thick layer of dust over everything in the cottage and the spider's webs that bad build up in the corners. Their footprints made little dark patches on the greyish carpet of dust. No one had been living here for at least thirty years. Slightly disappointed, Sori closed the door again and turned back to walk the way they'd come but both she and her brother stopped abruptly. Neither she nor Mizu had noticed the Heartless soldiers sneaking up on them and now they were surrounded. Both of them quickly summoned their keyblades and prepared to fight but someone else had joined them first. A young man with a sword arrived and swiftly dispatched a single soldier. The Heartless, now unsure who to attack, then when for whoever was nearest. The fight was rather boring and easy compared to the first fight when they had arrived. When the last of the soldiers were destroyed there was a long silence. Mizu eventually remembered his tongue.

"Uh... Thanks."

"Why were you here?" asked the young man. "You look like travellers. Why were you here?" Sori bit her lip.

"We were looking for someone to help us," she said.

"Help you with what?" asked the young man. Sori and Mizu looked at each other. They remembered how their Dad had taught them that no world should be brought to know the existence of others. Sori swallowed and then continued as best as she could.

"We passed through this kingdom on the way to another, but we decided to try and help fight the Heartless. We just didn't realise there would be so many." The young man looked satisfied. He sheathed his sword and looked at the two of them.

"There have been many of the dark shadows here lately," he said. "I had never seen them before. They started a few days ago, coming down from the Forbidden Mountain. My mother said that it happened once before when I was young, and the shadows swallowed the world."

"That's terrible," said Sori. "Where's the Forbidden Mountain? If we could go then..." The young man shook his head.

"No," he said. "No one goes to the Forbidden Mountains. That is Maleficent's domain." Sori's breath caught in her throat. She remembered Maleficent in stories when she was small: an evil witch who would destroy anything for power and revenge. Mizu looked at his sister then at the young man.

"Then what do we do?" he asked. "It'd be more use to go and fight them there." The young man shook his head.

"Few people who enter Maleficent's fortress ever return," he said. "My father was one of the few. He says that it is terrible in there. If you choose to go I will not stop you, but I am not coming with you. If you reach trouble in there I will not be able to help you. Are you still resolved to go?" The two looked at each other and then nodded. The young man sighed. "Then go," he said and turned back into the woods. "I must find my sister. If she escaped the Heartless..."

"Your sister?" asked Sori loudly. "Does she have brown hair, blue eyes and a blue dress?" The young man turned back to them.

"Yes," he said eagerly. "That would be her. Have you seen her?"  
"Yeah," said Mizu. "Our sister took her away from the danger."

"So if Rose escaped the Heartless she would head straight for our Grandmother's castle," said the young man more to himself than to others. "I will go and look for her."

"Castle?" asked Sori, as the young man turned away. The young man looked back.

"Yes," he said. "I am Prince Edward, and now I must find my sister." He vanished into the trees. Mizu looked at Sori.

"Which way is the Forbidden Mountain anyway?" he asked. Sori looked annoyed with herself.

"We should have asked the Prince," she said. "Now how do we get there?" Mizu walked out into the middle of the glen and looked around. All he could see was trees, and beyond then, high hills with beautiful meadows rose. Mizu turned away from the hills towards the other side of the wood. Here the hills had become huge and rocky mountains of a bluish rock and covered in snow. That was save one.

One mountain rose taller and darker than those around it, yet there was no trace of snow. Upon its dark summit was a castle made of even darker stone. Huge dark clouds hung over the mountain, and thunder rolled down its side.

"Sori," Mizu said pointing. "I'm guessing it's that one."

"Come on," nodded Sori, and the pair of them headed off towards the dark mountain.


	11. Chapter XI: The Girl in the Tower

Kairi's feet skipped over the grass as she pursued her daughter. She knew that she had come this way and would shout out her name upon occasion but it did very little. Kazé could not hear her from there; she was following Rose through the trees and had come to the edge of the wood. A large green expanse came before them and in the distance a castle of blue stone: Rose's grandmother's castle.

"Wow," Kazé said out loud, and she meant it. It was beautiful. Rose beamed, as though taking Kazé's awe as a huge compliment.

"Nice, isn't it," she said. "I always thought it was much prettier than our castle. Come on, Kazé. Let's go." The two slipped down the slope of the hill and began to walk across the open land. The trouble was, it made Kazé nervous. All this open space made them clearly visible and the Heartless weren't creatures to make themselves noticeable until you were pretty much within a square yard of them. Kazé summoned her keyblade and squeezed the hilt hard. It did very little to rid herself of the apprehension. Besides, if the Heartless did show up, it was her responsibility to protect the princess. She couldn't afford to go to pieces. She had to be strong. Kazé remembered what Axel had told her when she told him she had promised to look after the others.

"_Isn't that good enough?"_

Maybe, she thought. She'd have to find out some time anyway.

Riku plunged through the trees at high speed. They had to be somewhere around here. Seriously, how far could two teenage kids run? Way to the Dawn swung at his side as he ran in the direction of the two kids had gone. Heartless occasionally pounced out of the undergrowth at him but he hacked them back down, each with a single stroke. After a while, Riku paused in his chase to catch his breath and to think. Now, would there be anything to give them cause have changed track, because if they had, how could he be sure that he was even going the right way? Something rustled in the undergrowth ad Riku, thinking it was another Heartless, swung around to face it.

But it wasn't a Heartless. It was a young man (who was in fact looking rather scandalised at the fact he had nearly had his head knocked off by Riku's keyblade), now with a sword drawn.

"Sorry," said Riku, lowering his keyblade. "I thought..."

"Never mind," said the young man, looking still quite taken-aback. Riku made his keyblade vanish in an attempted gesture of 'no-harm-intended'.

"Sorry about..."  
"I said it doesn't matter."  
"OK," said Riku. "Have you seen a couple of kids: a boy and a girl?"

"Carrying weapons like that?" asked the young man, nodding at the keyblade.

"Yeah," said Riku. "Do you know where they are?"

"They went up to the Forbidden Mountain. I advised them not to but they were set on going."  
"Which way?" asked Riku.

"Over past the woodcutter's cottage and up into the mountain's..."

"Thanks!" called Riku, running off in the direction the young man had pointed.

Edward sighed.

"Good luck," he said. "You will need it."

Sori and Mizu poked their heads over the edge of the lip of the path and their eyes widened. The castle atop the Forbidden Mountain was much more foreboding close up and Sori felt the urge to turn back. Nervous, she cast an eye to her brother. Mizu also looked apprehensive and she sensed for the first time that he was considering whether their decision not to return to the Destiny Islands was indeed a wise move. The pair of them lingered where they were for a while, watching a pair of Heartless drag their heavy swords back and forth across the gateway. Sori considered. If they took those two down, people would know they were there. She bit her lip. She was not going to be a whiny little Cry-Kazé. There had to be a way round. She cast her eyes to her left. There was nothing there to hide behind. All that was there was a frightening drop into a ravine. It was the same story on the right, but if they crept around the edge, they may be able to reach the wall. It might be worth a shot. Sori nudged her brother and pointed out the path she wished to take. Understanding immediately, Mizu followed her out, keeping wary eyes on the Heartless. The two reached the wall without much trouble. Now how were they to get across the drawbridge? The answer came shortly.

The Heartless guarding the gateway suddenly stopped as if someone had called for them, and ran (if their lopsided clanking movement could have been called running) straight into the castle. Sori let out a small exclamation.

"What was that all about?" mouthed Mizu. Sori shrugged.

"Let's go and look then," she replied, and the two of them crept through the gateway, sliding out of sight behind the wall to a guard room, and it was good that they had done so, for what had met their eyes in the courtyard was the most incredible and terrifying sight that they had ever seen in their lives.

The courtyard was swarming with thousands and thousands of Heartless, large and small, pureblood and emblemed, writhing in a sea of black that made the stone of the floor completely invisible. Despite their huge numbers Sori could see more arriving. In a constant swoosh of dark corridors opening, more were being added to them. Mizu swallowed. He didn't like this. This looked like an army, and it was increasing constantly in size. But...

Something else was there: something powerful. Maleficent? Mizu drew a little further out of sight. Whatever it was it was frightening him. He couldn't see it yet, but he knew it was there.

"What is it?" Sori whispered to him, noticing her brother's pale face. Mizu trembled slightly.

"Something's here," he said, but that was all he could manage.

"Let's look," said Sori and swapped places. She felt it too now. It was like someone had just walked over her grave. She really didn't like it, but then she saw what it was.

...And she really, _really _didn't like it.

She couldn't see it clearly, but as far as she could tell. It was a male humanoid figure (probably Heartless) and walked with authority amongst the Heartless. She could not see his face and didn't really want to. He frightened her already. His clothes were dark and his skin pale, his fingernails painted black and his hair was streaked with black, but the thing about him that made Sori's stomach churn the most was the fact that there was something about him that was horribly familiar.

The Assassin turned, just as Sori slipped back out of sight. He didn't know, but he had sensed that something was not right? Spies from the castle? Or were the Keybladers here already? If that was the case, he would have to be quick. Gesturing a number of his most powerful Heartless to follow him, he jumped into a dark corridor.

Sori's breath caught in her chest. She was almost sure that the _Thing_ had seen her and she remained frozen for a while. It took her a long time to build her courage back up to see what was there. It had gone. Sori breathed a sigh of relief.

"What is it?" asked Mizu and looked around the corner too. Then they both felt someone grab their mouths from behind.

"Sh!" hissed Riku, as Sori tried to bite his hand. "Just me."

"Riku?"

"Come on. We've got to get out of here."

"There's something here," whispered Mizu. "It's evil."

"Where's Malifecent?" asked Riku. Sori shook her head.

"Don't know?" she said. "She's not here, wherever she is."

"Either way, let's get moving," hissed Riku and pulled the two children away from the rocks and back out of the gate, but just as he had done it, an unearthly shriek which may or may not have been a call to battle shook the whole mountain.

"RUN!" yelled Riku. They didn't need telling twice.

They weren't the only ones to hear the cry. By the edge of the river, Axel had heard the call and vanished into a dark corridor, the King only just managing to follow him. Sora, Donald and Goofy were much further away, but they heard the cry still and without warning Heartless sprang up around them.

"Gimme a break," said Sora, as the three of them raised their weapons, ready for battle.

Kairi saw the shadow of her daughter and the girl she was with, stretched out on the grass. She smiled. At least she now knew her daughter was safe, and she could catch her up easily from here. Realising that there was a stabbing pain in her arm, she finally looked down and saw why. Either by forcing her way through the wood or during the fight (she wasn't sure), something had scratched her, and now it was stinging. Kairi placed a hand over the scratch.

"Heal," she said, and her skin was bathed in green light. Then she set off again after her daughter.

The castle was just as impressive on the inside. Rose led Kazé through the atrium and into the auditory chamber. At the other end of the otherwise empty hall stood two thrones. One was empty and in the other sat a silver-haired woman, who stood up at their entrance and smiled at Rose. Rose ran across the chamber and threw herself into the arms of the woman.

"I'm so glad you're safe, Rose," said the woman.

"I'm all right, grandmother," smiled Rose. "This is Kazé. She saved me. Kazé, this is my grandmother."

"You Majesty," smiled Kazé, bobbing slightly in a curtsy. The Dowager Queen smiled at her.

"Thank you for looking after Rose, Kazé," she smiled.

"Oh, grandmother, has Edward returned?" asked Rose. The Dowager Queen shook her head.

"No. But I do not doubt that he shall," she said. "Your brother is strong. He shall come back here."

"If he comes back can you call me please?" asked Rose, taking a few steps towards a grand staircase in her right.

"Yes," replied the Dowager Queen, watching her go. "But where...?"

"I'm going to the tower, grandmother. I want to see if I can see what's happening." The Dowager Queen bowed her head and sighed.

"Of course," she said. "But, Rose."

"Yes, Grandmother."

"Be careful."

"I will." Rose took a few steps more towards the stairs and then stopped to look back at Kazé.

"Come on, Kazé," she smiled. "You'll love the view from my mother's bedchamber."

"Are you sure we're allowed...?" asked Kazé as the two girls sat down in the small room. Rose drew the blue draperies from the window and looked out over the grass towards the wood.

"Yes," she said, looking back at Kazé.

"It was just that your grandma looked rather ... nervous... no... more like apprehensive, when you said you were coming up here."

"It's because of the curse," said Rose. "When my mother was sixteen, Maleficent put her into a deep sleep."

"That's why she doesn't like this room then," said Kazé. Rose nodded and then gave a little gasp. "What?" asked Kazé, getting up off the bed and crossing over to join the princess at the window. Rose pointed at a shadow moving across the fields.

"Someone's there," she said. "It might be Edward. I'll go and tell grandmother. She'll send someone to find out." She ran to the door and Kazé turned to watch her, noticing something on the floor.

"Rose," she called. Rose stopped, the door half open, and glanced back.

"What is it?" Kazé bent down and picked up a small doll with flowing golden hair off the floor and held it out.

"Is this yours?" Rose looked at the doll, puzzled.

"No," she said. "It's been years since I had any dolls like that and it's not one of them. We'll find out when I get back." She flew out of the door and closed it behind her. Kazé stared at the doll. It was beautifully made. The stitching was perfect and it's blue eyes, made from tiny beads sparked in the sun uncovered by the drapery. Whoever was missing this doll wouldn't be that happy. Kazé sat the doll neatly where she had found it over by the fireplace. The fireplace was cold and empty. Kazé took a guess that it had not held a fire for years. It was a shame though. It was so pretty. She reached out a hand to stroke the bricks on the back wall of the fireplace. These bricks even looked new.

CLUNK!

Kazé withdrew her hand quickly, now panicking that she may have broken something and looked to see what she had done. One of the bricks she had touched had just caved in. Even as she watched the back of the fireplace completely vanished, leading to a tunnel lit by a mysterious green light. Kazé hesitated and glanced back at the door. Rose did not seem to be coming back. Should she go in alone? Her classic reaction was not to. That green light looked frightening and what if there was Heartless in there. Kazé leant forward and risked a tiny step in, her foot catching on something small and wooden. Kazé bent down to look at it. It was a little wooden bobbin, and it looked almost new. Someone had been down here recently. Kazé stepped back out of the fireplace and picked up the doll. Maybe... Kazé looked at the door again. Still no Rose. Gripping the doll tightly in one hand Kazé stepped into the passageway and proceeded down it, catching her foot on the bottom step of a spiral staircase in the semi darkness. Suddenly the light behind her was cut off. The fireplace had closed behind her. Kazé drew her keyblade quickly, but it held no comfort. She started up the stairs taking step after tiny step up the staircase.

Riku dragged Sori and Mizu behind him as they fled past the woodcutters cottage. Some Heartless had beaten them down there and were appearing out of dark corridors all around them. The two children drew their keyblades, preparing for a fight if any such occasion arose when suddenly they hit Riku as he came to a sudden stop, colliding with someone else.

"What are you doing here?" asked Riku.

"Looking for you guys." Axel's voice. He and the King had been heading in the opposite direction and (neither party seeing the other before it was too late) had caused a massive collision.

"There's an army up there," blurted out Sori, without even thinking, "and this _Thing_. I hated the look of it."

"What was it?" asked Axel.

"Uh, guys." Mizu pointed behind them. Everyone looked. The black mountain had turned blacker as the mass of Heartless began flooding down its sides. Everyone's eyes widened.

"It's at times like this..." started Axel, clicking his fingers and producing a dark corridor. Grabbing both the kids by the arms he made a swift apology and dragged them into the Darkness, followed by the others.

"Heartless, Heartless, Heartless," yelled Donald in frustration, dealing a shadow a hefty blow to the head with his staff.

"There's more comin'," pointed out Goofy, gesturing into the distance. Sora nodded.

"Let's go," he said. "Maybe we'll find the others." The three made a swift retreat into the trees, Donald casting spells back over his shoulder at any Heartless who dared to come too close.

"I'm sure they weren't this bad last time," he thought out loud.

"They weren't," said Donald. "FIRE!"

"Maybe there's something else here?" ventured Goofy. "Something Axel said about... what was it?"

"Heartless Generals," said Sora, taking a hack at a strange plant-like Heartless that had just materialised next to him. "You think there's one here."

"Maybe."

"Aw, phooie," muttered Donald.

"What about the others?" asked Sora. "Riku, Kairi, the kids..."

"And the King," added Donald.

"And Axel," added Goofy (but no one seemed to be paying any attention).

"They could be in trouble," yelled Sora. "We'll have to find them."

Kazé heard something before she could see anything. She heard someone sniffing, as though trying to hold back tears and the occasional swish of cloth across a floor. Then the humming began. The tune was unfamiliar but it was beautiful. There didn't seem to be anything to be afraid of up here. Kazé reached the top of the stairs and the girl in the tower gave a start, dropping what she was holding: a similar doll to the one in Kazé's hand.

"Sorry," said Kazé. "Who are you?" The girl stood up. She looked about Rose's age with long flowing red hair and a plain white dress down to her ankles, a pale pink scarf around her shoulders.

"Who are you?" she asked, mirroring Kazé's question.

"I'm Kazé," Kazé replied and held out the doll. "Is this yours?" The girl looked at it.

"Yes," she said. "Thank you." She took the doll from Kazé and sat down on a little wooden stool propped in the corner. Kazé asked her again.

"What's your name?"

"My name?" The girl looked puzzled for half a second and then raised a hand to her chest in indication of herself. "My name... is Resurae."

"Resurae," repeated Kazé. "Then she cast her eyes around the darkened room. It was full of thread, cloth, and various sewing equipment, on which sat what must have been one hundred dolls at least. Kazé picked up one of them. "Do you make these?" she asked Resurae. The girl nodded.

"Uh-huh."

"Do you live here?" Resurae nodded again.

"All my life." Kazé stared at her. She could hardly imagine her having lived here for her entire life. Why would she? Kazé sat down on the floor and looked up at Resurae.

"Why would you?" she asked, by Resurae did not reply, she simply stood up, put down the doll and picked up another, before returning to her seat. "Why do you live here?" Resurae looked up and replied finally.

"Because I have no choice." She pointed to the window. "If I went out there, they would all be afraid of me." She bowed her head. "I don't blame them. I am a monster."

"You're not a monster," said Kazé.

"But I am," said Resurae with a tear shining in her eyes. "I'm not even supposed to exist, and... you would be afraid if you knew what I was. The Queen she..."

"What about the queen? The Dowager Queen?"

"No. Queen Aurora."

"Rose's mother?"

"Yes."

"But..."  
"Kazé, I'm dangerous. I'm not supposed to be anywhere. How old do you think I am?"

"Fifteen, sixteen," ventured Kazé. Resurae shook her head.

"Thirty-one."

"What?"

"I stand still," said Resurae. "I'm afraid of what I will be thought of if I leave this tower."

"We're going to need you," said Kazé. "There is an army of Heartless coming. If you don't want to be considered a monster help us."

"I can't," said Resurae. "I don't know...?"

"KAZΈ!"

Rose's voice. She hadn't long.

"Please," she inquired to Resurae, but the girl shook her head.

"You must go," she said. "Don't let them find me."

"I'll come back," promised Kazé and ran back down the stairs leaving Resurae staring at the doll, a doll that resembled Kazé herself.


	12. Chapter XII: Heartless at the Gate

"MOM!" Kazé threw her arms around her mother, registering the woman that Rose had brought with her. Kairi smiled.

"I'm so glad you're safe."  
"Where're the others?" asked Kazé, looking into Kairi's blue eyes. Kairi shook her head.

"I don't know," she said. "I left them in the wood. They'll be all right."

"I hope you're right," whispered Kazé.

"Is there anything we can do to help?" asked Rose. "I'm sure that my grandmother would be happy to help. I definitely am."

"I don't know," said Kairi.

"Oh," said Kazé. "Mom, Rose. Rose, my Mom."

"Nice to meet you," said Kairi.

"What's going on out there?" asked Kazé, running to the window, to watch. "That doesn't look good."

"What is it?" asked Rose, as she and Kairi joined her at the window. A dark shadow was spreading over the woods.

"Sora..." Kairi's voice was a whisper. "Riku... Sori... Mizu..."

"Please be OK," whispered Kazé.

"Look!" Rose pointed down onto the grassland. A horse was speeding across the plains, two riders clinging to it. Rose smiled.

"Yes!"

And she ran back towards the audience chamber, followed by the others.

Axel, Mickey, Riku and the other children jumped back out of the dark corridor still within the wood, but they knew the Heartless wouldn't be far behind them.

"Why've we stopped?" demanded Riku, drawing his keyblade in preparation for any assault (the King had done the same).

"We can't afford to use the dark corridors anymore," said Axel. "Come on, you two, get moving." Sori and Mizu ran forwards, secretly relieved. Neither of them had liked the dark corridors. The Darkness pressed in on them and there were living things in there that made them feel almost as bad as they had done on top of the Forbidden Mountain. Riku, however, did not look so impressed.

"Why not?" he asked, as he, the King and Axel followed the two children. It was the King who answered though.

"They can track us if we use the Darkness to travel."

"The Darkness is drawing them to us?"

"Yep."

"That's just made me your 'here we are' beacon! If they can track the Darkness..."

"Hey," said Axel. "I'm a Nobody remember. We use the dark corridors a hell of a lot."

"There's something unfriendly in those corridors," said the King gravely.

"And I think I know what," said Axel. "There's a General here."

"Excuse me," said Sori. "Don't mean to be Miss Inexperienced, but nobody's explained what a Heartless General is, but I'm guessing bad."

"Yeah," said Mizu. "We're here too." Riku shook his head.

"I don't know much," he said. "They lead Heartless armies."

"Not just the armies," said the King. "Next to Ansem, they were the worst."

"You got that right," muttered Axel.

"So they're very powerful Heartless?" said Sori.

"Uh-huh?"

"How many are there?"

"Eleven: Guardian, Assassin, Marksman, Knight, Scientist, Fighter, Strategist, Bard, Ace, Reaper and Mother. Eleven: got 'em memorised?"

"So which one's here?" asked Sori.

"No idea. The Guardian took over after Ansem was destroyed so it's probably not him."

"Who did the Heartless that got away belong to?" asked Riku.

"If I'm stabbing in the dark, I'd go for the Assassin, and seriously, he'd probably be the worst to have here."

"Why?" asked Mizu.

"Because I know what he's like." There was a silence; nobody really knew what to say to that. Sori was the first to open her mouth.

"How?" she asked. "I kinda figured you'd avoid them."  
"Who said I didn't?" asked Axel, raising his eyebrows. "Doesn't mean I don't know them, even if I do try to avoid them. Working in the Organisation you meet lots of Heartless, especially if you're planning on betraying them."

"So chances are we're gonna end up fighting this guy?" asked Riku.

"Probably."

"Great."

They reached the edge of the wood, looking out over the fields. The King pointed to a castle in the distance.

"If we're going to get some help, I'd guess there's a good place to start." Axel shrugged.

"Yeah."

"Heartless!" yelled Riku, seeing something move within the trees. He was wrong. It was Donald. He pelted through the trees with Goofy behind him, and Sora behind him (who appeared to have lost patience with the perusing Heartless and was now firing a few spells behind him).

"Plan?" he asked as he reached them and turned back. Heartless were pouring from the edges of the trees. Everyone drew their weapons and readied for the fight.

Rose ran through the audience chamber, causing the Dowager Queen to rise and ask what was happening.

"I'm afraid I don't know, your Majesty," said Kazé, trying (and failing) to curtsey whilst still running after Rose. The Dowager rose and walked swiftly across the empty room. Rose ran down the steps into the entrance hall and gave a little squeak of joy. Kairi and Kazé reached the doorway too, just in time to see a woman in a blue dress sweep down from the horse. She looked older than Kairi by about ten years, and had long blonde hair that reached her waist, golden with a silver glimmer to it. There were several reasons to suppose that she was the queen. Firstly, her face bore an extraordinary likeness to Rose's; secondly, the joy that Rose expelled purely by seeing her; and thirdly, the golden crown upon her forehead was the giveaway point. Rose ran down the steps as the Queen turned back to the man still seated upon the horse. Like the Queen he wore a crown and his hair was chestnut brown, silver streaking through it.

"I'll go and look for Edward," he said to her. The Queen nodded.

"Yes," she said in a voice that almost sounded like music. "Go, and come back safe." The man on the horse (who Kazé correctly assumed must be the King) reeled the horse around and head back out over the bridge and into the fields.

"Mother!" Rose swished down the steps and the woman looked up.

"Rose!" She hugged the girl. "I'm glad you made it here safe."

"Kazé brought me," said Rose, indicating her new friend. Kazé blushed in embarrassment. She wished that Rose wouldn't make such a deal about it.

"Thank you," said the Queen. Kazé was about to mutter a response when another voice joined in.

"Aurora!" The Queen looked up.

"Mother!" The Queen ran up the stairs into the open arms of her mother.

"I'm glad that they haven't reached your castle," said the Dowager. The Queen shook her head.

"No, but news arrived that something terrible had happened at the Forbidden Mountain. Philip had to do something. The news came that a demon worse than Maleficent had taken her place."

"The Heartless have returned," said Kairi. The Queen turned to her and looked at her carefully.

"I know your face," she said. "But we were merely girls... Kairi. Princess Kairi?"

"It's just Kairi, your Majesty," Kairi said, looking even more embarrassed than her daughter. "But the Heartless are the main worry."  
"I know," said Aurora. "But if it is true that they have killed Maleficent then they must be evil indeed."

"Yeah," said Kairi.

"But how can we know that Maleficent is truly gone?" asked Aurora. "Demons like her are not so easy to kill."

"You think she's still alive?" asked Kairi.

"I believe..." Aurora stopped. "That I do not trust anything yet."

"I'm getting bored of fighting now," said Sori, looking to her brother.

"Yeah," he said, hacking a Heartless soldier's head off and it vanished into a black mist. "But what else can we do?"

"What if the Heartless General comes?"

"Start on 'what if's and this chackram will be aimed at your _heads_!" yelled Axel, incapacitating two Heartless at once with a fire ring.

"Sorry," came the joint reply. Sora brought out a second keyblade, but something struck down several Heartless before he had a chance to use them. He looked up. A young man was holding a sword up and looked to Sora.

"Get them out of here."

"Edward!" cried out Sori.

"_Prince_ Edward," he corrected her. "Now go." Axel grabbed at the two children.

"Trust me, I'm just as sorry as you are," he said, dragging the two back from a Heartless as Donald incinerated it. King Mickey nodded in approval.

"Can you risk..."

"Might as well," said the Flurry of Dancing Flames, opening a small hole into the Darkness and examined it. Three shadows jumped out of it and the two children managed to hack them down. Axel tried to close the dark corridor but to no avail.

"Something's keeping it open!" he yelled. "We can't stay here."

"Right," said Sora. "You pull back towards that castle. Donald, Goofy and I will stay here until we can't hold them back."

"Not without us," said King Mickey.

"True," said Riku.

"Nor I," said the Prince. "This is my parents' kingdom. I won't fall to these monsters.

"Right, then, we'll all go back," said Sora. Axel, take Sori and Mizu first. The rest of us will follow in a minute." Axel opened his mouth as if to protest but someone cut him off.

"Look!" cried Sori pointing out to the horizon towards the castle. Everyone who wasn't immediately fighting looked over. A white horse rode towards them.

"That's my father," said Edward. "Pull back towards the castle. "I will join you shortly." Sori and Mizu looked at their father.

"Dad?" asked Mizu. Sora looked torn.

"Go!" he gestured to his children and they began their run. "Axel, anything happens to them and you may be back in oblivion a lot more quickly than you thought."

"Point taken," said Axel, looking scandalised and followed.

"Come on!" yelled Sora and they broke off and followed Axel and the children.

"Your Majesty?" Kazé had been watching Queen Aurora staring out of the window in misery for a while. She started at the sudden address and turned to look at the girl.

"Yes, Kazé."

"You said to mom that Maleficent might not be dead."

"She has been killed before," said the Queen. "Philip has killed her, Sora killed her, and she has lived still. Even the Heartless might not have ended her. No. I think she's still out there somewhere. And she'll be very angry." Kazé shivered.

"It's beginning," she whispered, watching small specs move across the grass.

Sori, Mizu and Axel clattered into the entrance hall, startling Rose.

"Hi," grinned Sori.

"Hello..." said Rose. Kazé ran down the stairs into the entrance way.

"Sori! Mizu! You're OK!"

"I'm fine, Kazé. Thanks for asking," said a very sarcastic Axel.

"Sorry," said Kazé. "Where are the others? Where's Dad? Riku?"

"About a hundred yards behind us, and the Heartless are about another hundred yards behind them."

"Uh-oh." Sora hurtled through the door, holding Donald in one arm and both keyblades in the other, promptly slinging the magician across the hall with a scream.

"!"

"Sorry, Donald."

"Dad!"

"Hey, Kazé!"

"Where're the others?" Sora didn't need to reply. Goofy, King Mickey and Riku skidded into the hall.

"Has anyone seen my brother?" asked Rose. A horse clattered in and King Philip and Prince Edward dismounted. "EDWARD!"

"Rose!" Edward looked overjoyed.

"Rose," said King Philip, looking to his daughter. "Where's your mother?"

"I'm here," came the voice of the Queen at the entrance to the audience chamber. "What's happening?" she asked.

"They're coming," said Philip. "Take Rose and your mother somewhere safe."

"Rose, see to your grandmother," Aurora said to her daughter and Rose ran up the stairs.

"Aurora, you need to go as well."

"I know," said the Queen. "Just..." She faltered. King Philip smiled.

"I will," he promised. Aurora nodded, and walked slowly back up the stairs.

"Wedge those doors!" yelled King Philip. "All they've got against them is us."  
"And me," another voice came from the top of the stairs everyone looked. Kazé stared. Standing at the top of the stairs, with a determined look on her face and the doll Kazé had retrieved for her in her hand, stood Resurae. She smiled at Kazé.

"Have you room for one more," she asked.

"Always," smiled Kazé. Resurae came down the stairs until she faced Queen Aurora.

"Your Majesty," she addressed her with a curtsy.

"Who are you?" asked the Queen.

"My name is Resurae and I've come to help." She held out a white hand, with the doll curled up in it. "I can change the tide," she said. "But you will have to trust me." The Queen hesitated slightly, but then brought her hand up too and placed it over the doll. "A heart of pure light," said Resurae, "does not create a Heartless, but it leaves a Nobody behind." Their skin touched and a pure light emerged from it.

"Mother!" Edward started forward but Kairi threw out an arm to hold him back.

"No," she commanded. "Just watch."

"And a reunion such as this..." whispered Resurae. "If only we could harness that power..." The linked hands between which lay the doll was raised into the air and from the white light within appeared a glowing keyblade. Resurae smiled and vanished, the light where she had been pouring into Aurora's chest. Then the light faded and Aurora was left holding the keyblade. She stared at the keyblade in her hands, completely dumbfounded.

"Kairi," she whispered. "Yours..." And she let go. The keyblade vanished before it hit the ground and appeared in Kairi's outstretched hand. She drew her other as well.

"Drive!" Her outfit changed from pink to red and she stood facing the door, as Heartless scratched at it. The others drew their weapons. They would break through in a minute. The door cracked and shadows leaked through.

Shadows widened the gaps and larger Heartless squeezed through.

"Aurora!" King Philip called out to his wife. The Queen fled up the stairs and into the hall, closing the door behind her. Axel waved his left hand and flames sprung up across the doorway, blocking the Heartless advance. Many halted, but some decided to risk the flames and made it across (although smoking profusely). They didn't make it far either, they were either cut down of hit by some spell of Donald's sending them back into the Darkness. Things seemed to be looking up, and Sora found himself for the first time glad of Axel's presence. Things didn't last that way for long.

Just when it seemed that the Heartless seemed to be losing, something else arrived. All of a sudden the Heartless stopped everything and vanished into dark corridors. Sora lowered his Keyblades.

"OK..."

"They've retreated," said Edward triumphantly (his father looked less sure). King Mickey rested his Keyblade on the floor, looking seriously worried. Axel looked suspicious.

"They're running away," he said slowly.

"That's good right?" asked Kazé.

"If you were Heartless there can't be many things that you're afraid of," said Riku. Mizu visibly swallowed.

"No so good," added Sori. "Axel?" Everyone looked at the Nobody. He looked forwards into the fire, his green eyes shining with a memory.

"He's here," he said.

Someone clapped, but it wasn't anyone visible.

"You know," came a voice, as everyone's hands tightened on their weapons, "even if Nobodies do insist they are better than us, they are not very bright."

"Hang on. I know that voice," said Kairi, out loud, but the others had thought the same. Axel's flames went black, and Axel quickly tried to snuff them. Most went out immediately but those touched by the Darkness weren't extinguishable. Someone was standing in the flames.

"Nice try," he said. "Exactly what I knew you would do, but unfortunately those flames of yours aren't flames anymore. They belong to the Darkness, to us." The Heartless General stepped out of the black flames and Kazé stifled a scream. It looked terrible: dressed all in black with the symbol of the Heartless emblazoned upon its chest. Its skin was white, its eyes yellow like a hawk, and its hair fiery red, streaked with black. Now Sori knew once she looked into that evil face what familiarity had unnerved her atop the Forbidden Mountain. She looked at Axel and back again. Yes: the face was the same, the height was the same, and the voice sounded the same too. Although there were minor differences in their appearances it was obvious that this Heartless came from Axel, or the person he had once been. Axel and the Assassin's eyes were fixed on each other's, nobody wanted to move. Eventually it was Axel who spoke.

"Yeah, I guessed you be here, but I have a feeling that you're not about to tell me why?"

"Nope," said the Assassin, folding his arms. "I know we're technically the same person and everything, but to be honest, I don't care about you."

"Why are you here?"

"For the fun. Besides, after that Nobody girl finished off Maleficent, we thought easy bate. Consider yourself lucky. I only came here because of you."

"I'm _so_ flattered."

"I was going to leave this world to my army but as _you _were here... I needed to see you myself."  
"Do you trust her?"

"Of course I don't. I'm not even sure the Guardian does. Still, I figured that you would know what she's up to. We don't like her attitude."  
"I'm not an expert, sorry," said Axel. "I'm not in good favour with many Nobodies right now. What did she offer you?"

"Free access to whichever worlds she wanted, providing we went to at least six worlds were invaded for her to gain something from each?"  
"What?"

"Like she would tell us. But this was one of them."  
"And the others?"

"That would be telling," said the Assassin. "Now, I'm glad we had this little chat but right now..." Green flames now.

"GET BACK!" yelled Riku, grabbing Mizu and Sori (who were nearest and in the most danger) and pulling them away from the fire. The two younger children stumbled into their older sister and then steadied themselves. Sora and Kairi raised their double keyblades again.

"What have you done?" demanded Edward, rounding on the Assassin who shrugged.

"That one wasn't me."

"No. It wasn't." King Philip visibly tensed at recognition of the voice and looked into the fire as a very angry looking Maleficent emerged from the flames, staring at the Assassin in pure hatred. "You traitor," she said coldly. "Twice now you have betrayed me and left me for dead."

"What?" said the Assassin. "We work that way. We're not particularly fussy whose side we're on providing it's the winning side. You were weak."

"You dare to call me weak?" said Maleficent. "Me? The Mistress of All Evil?"

"Evil or not, you lost," pointed out the Assassin. "Besides, the Generals are not the mindless parasites these shadows are. We can think for ourselves, and if that Nobody didn't quite finish you off..." He drew two chakrams out of the Darkness. "...Maybe I can do it myself."

"Back, everyone!" commanded King Philip, and Kazé dragged her siblings back out of the battle. Axel hadn't moved. He was staring into the oncoming battle with a strange expression on his face. Sora noticed it first.

"Don't you dare..." Too late. Axel was involved. He'd just thrown a fireball into the fray, and automatically included himself. Kairi acted before she even knew what she was doing. She raised the keyblade Aurora had given her and pointed it into the fight.

"Light!" she called and a white beam of light issued from the end of the keyblade. Maleficent screamed and the Assassin recoiled in pain. Axel had realised what was going on in the split second before and had cloaked himself in his own fire. Maleficent howled.

"This is not over!" she screamed, and faded. Black mist was issuing from the Assassin. He was wounded badly.

"Withdraw!" he yelled, and before anyone could stop him he disappeared into a corridor of darkness.

Axel let the flames drop and extinguished the fire across the doorway once again red. There was a silence eventually broken by Mizu.

"Was that it?"

"Maybe," said King Mickey. "I think we are safe for now." Kairi dropped from her drive form and looked down at her new keyblade.

"What _is_ this thing?" she asked. "It's not like ..." Nobody answered but Donald looked at Sora.

"Would Merlin know?" He didn't answer but Kazé cried out.

"Dad!" Everyone followed Kazé's finger and saw a shining white light at the top of the stairs.

"The Keyhole!" exclaimed Goofy.

"No more Heartless," said Sora and sealed it with his keyblade.

"He got away though!" said Axel, looking scandalised.

"Maybe," said Sora.

"But they won't be coming back here right?" asked Mizu.

"Hope so," said King Mickey, his keyblade vanishing. "They Keyhole is closed."

"Doesn't mean they won't try again," said Riku. "But I think you might be right."

"So," said King Philip, looking thoughtful. "They won't return."

"Not for a while."

"Good," said Sori. "This adventure stuff is harder than I thought."

"I'll go and find Mother," said Edward, and set off up the stairs. Kazé crossed to her mother and looked at the new and impressive keyblade.

"Wow," she said. "Did Resurse make that?"

"Resurae?"

"The girl in white." Kairi smiled as if in recognition.

"Resurae..." she pondered the name. "She may have done. She knew about it either way."

"Who was she?" asked Kazé out loud. "She reminds me of someone... I don't know who though."

"Resurae isn't entirely what she appears."

"I know. She told me she was afraid of the others when I spoke to her earlier. She said she shouldn't exist."

"Do you remember what she said before?"

"What?"

"She said that a heart of light doesn't make a Heartless when its heart is lost but a Nobody is still made."

"Resurae's a Nobody: Aurora's Nobody?"

"Mm." Kairi nodded. "And she's just completed herself and Aurora by becoming her original self."

"So did she do it to create the Keyblade or to complete them?"

"I don't know?" said Kairi. "She's not Naminé. I can't tell you." Kazé bowed her head.

"I wish I'd got to know her better," she said.

"It doesn't matter," said Kairi. "Anyway, we'd better get going. We probably ought to find out more about this. Say your goodbyes and we'll be off."


	13. Chapter XIII: Councils of War

"So Maleficent lives? Our Nobody friend is not as strong as she thinks she is," muttered the Guardian. "Things are beginning to turn in our favour."

"Hate to be the pessimist here, but what're we going to do regarding the Keyblade of Light?" asked the Assassin. "The Princess doesn't know what it is yet, but it won't be long before she works it out."

"That can wait," replied the Guardian. "Where is the girl?"

"And we would know how?" asked the Mother, leaning forwards, and scraping her claws along her chair with the sound of nails on a chalkboard. "She didn't tell us."

"This is all going to end in tears," said the Scientist in a mutinous mutter. "I said as much."

"Either way, we need to keep her away from the Castle," said the Knight, ignoring him. "If she knows what's being kept in there..."

"She won't," said the Strategist. "I won't let her."

"Unfortunately she seems to have taken ownership over the Castle already," said the Ace. "Any longer and somebody will find what's hidden there, it being her or not."

"I'm not sure which is worse," said the Scientist.

"If you're going to just moan and not think of a plan of action, just go," said the Marksman, looking bored. "Seriously, Even, learn to chill out." The Scientist gave the Marksman a look of pure ice, but maintained his silence. The Reaper smiled.

"She could be useful eventually," he said. "A Nobody who for the time being knows nothing about us, could be an interesting asset. But it might be an idea to find out what she's up to. For all we know, her very presence could be endangering us. We need to find out what her real agenda is here."

"I agree," said the Guardian. "One of you must go and find her."

"Do we know where she is?" asked the Bard. "A world'd help."

"She's still here," muttered the Fighter, seemingly addressing the floor at the Bard's feet rather than to him directly. The Strategist stood up and swept his purple hair away from his right eye.

"I'll go," he said. "I will watch her."

"Go," commanded the Guardian and the Strategist stepped into the dark corridor. The Guardian then turned back to the Assassin. "As for the Keyblade of Light," he said. "You're assigned to preventing the forging of any of the others." The Assassin nodded.

"So where do I start."

"The Seventh Princess is most likely to find it. Keep an eye on the remaining five of course but the Seventh is our priority. You are aware how powerful those keyblades are. None of the others must fall into the hands of Princess Kairi. And this time, do not fail." The Assassin stepped into his own dark corridor, leaving the remaining nine looking around for someone to continue the conversation.

"What about the worlds?" asked the Bard.

"We'll see to that when the time comes," said the Guardian. "But I would advise that somebody takes their army to Port Royale..."

"Me," said the Mother, rising. "This one is mine."

"Then go." She left. "The rest of you need to prepare your armies. This could turn into a three fronted battle."

"It is still the girl who concerns me," the Knight said to the Guardian as the other Generals vanished into the Darkness. "She is after all a Nobody. She tells us that she is not interested in Kingdom Hearts but how can we be sure. And why would she ally herself with _us_ when we are traditional enemies?"

"That is the question," said the Guardian, "we all want to know the answer to." He scraped his long nails along the arm of his seats. "Find Braig. You and him can stay here and guard us here. Leave the others be for now."

"Sir?" The Guardian looked at the Knight.

"This is not our concern right now. Would it interest you to know that Lea reported that the Keybladers are following him here?"

"They're coming here?"

"Yes. We need to watch them too. More so than the girl. For now we are on her side and they are against us both. If anything bad happens..." He smiled, showing pointed teeth. "Ienzo for one knows what he's doing."


	14. Chapter XIV: Ghosts of the Past

Roxenasha had re-entered the castle, and was searching for what she needed. She remembered the way around. One of the five remaining items had to be here. This one had to be the hardest though. She opened desk draws and emptied them onto desks. It was hard to find things here though. Where were their labs? It was bound to be there if it wasn't here. She couldn't have risked asking the Heartless Generals. They would be suspicious as to why, and for some reason several of them (although mainly the Strategist) didn't seem to want her coming anywhere near here. She wondered why. Were they keeping something here? Or were they afraid of something? She didn't know. Roxenasha left the mess on the desks and walked out into the corridors and down the stairs. There was so much dust down on the lower levels. Nobody had been down here for nigh on thirty years by the look of things. Roxenasha tried the door. Locked. She smiled and gave a slight gesture, a tiny plant creeping from the floor up the door and into the lock. The lock clicked and Roxenasha opened the door.

Everything in here was covered in inch thick dust. Roxenasha swept some dust off papers and read them. They were mainly scientific notes on Heartless: nothing of use. Roxenasha turned around.

"If I was a valuable scientific object, where would I be?" she asked out loud and began opening draws, then cupboards. Still nothing. OK, so where was it. Roxenasha's eyes fell on something covered by a black cloth on the other end of the room. Whatever it was it was taller than her. Maybe under there? Roxenasha gripped the cloth with her gloved fingers and pulled it down. With a dramatic swoosh down it came and Roxenasha's eyes widened. It was not what she was looking for, but it was stunning.

It was made of metal and out of it was carved an angel. Surprising. She wondered why Ansem's apprentices had this thing here. Roxenasha considered going back to her search, but there was something in those cold metal eyes that seemed rather alive. Roxenasha threw the cloth at it again, the black material catching on the angel's wings and drooping over its face. She had work to do. She pulled open another cupboard and smiled. Yes. There it was.

Roxenasha reached out for the item and pulled it out into the semi-light and held it up. The prisms in the glass shone with different colours as Roxenasha pressed her eye against the glass and watched the colours dance.

"You know," came a voice from behind her making her start, "I don't know if you were ever told this when you were a child but it is rude to go through other people's belongings." Roxenasha's eyes fell on the Strategist and she moaned.

"Oh, it's you. What do you want?"

"To find out what you're up to?" said the Strategist. "We don't trust you."

"Well, there's a surprise," Roxenasha said sarcastically, dissolving her prize into flower petals.

"I mean it," said the Strategist, gliding over like a malevolent bat so that then he could give the illusion of some height. "What's your plan?"

"I collect six items of magical importance and use them in a spell. Everything else is yours."  
"And this spell?"

"My business."

"Why?" asked the Strategist, alighting on one of the desks. "Something we'd disapprove of."  
"All right, I want to be able to see my parents. Is that so wrong?"  
"I thought Nobodies didn't have hearts," smiled the Strategist.

"We don't," said Roxenasha. "I'm just curious. But I'm not Xemnas and I've already been through this. I am not after Kingdom Hearts. How can I ever miss something I never had? Besides I survived twenty-one years without a heart. I know I don't_ need_ one." The Strategist watched her keenly.

"Really?" he asked, something in his tone indicating that he didn't believe her. Roxenasha sighed. The others had been right. Heartless were annoying. What did it matter? The Generals were doing exactly as anticipated. Even if they knew they were walking openly into the arms of death, their lust for power was too great. They would still take the worlds, but for the time being she had to remain on their good side. The Keybladers would see an army of Heartless a lot more of a threat to a world than one member of the Organisation (and maybe a few Dusks), and the Generals and their armies would act as a buffer to her, so as before the Keybladers realised the real danger, it would be too late for them to do anything about it. The Strategist continued to give her a yellow-eyed stare. She looked back at the cloth she had thrown over the angel and addressed the Strategist.

"What's that?" she asked, nodding at it.

"And _that_ is none of your business," said the Heartless. "Now if I were you I'd be getting back to Villain's Vale. The Guardian is expecting you."

"Is he now?" smiled Roxenasha. "I finally feel appreciated."

"Just remember," said the Strategist, "we're watching you."

"I'd just love to express mock-fear right now," said Roxenasha, "but unfortunately, due to my lack of a heart, I cannot. Bye." She began to leave and the Strategist glared at her. She was going to regret that, but he'd better return to the castle too. He stepped into a dark corridor. Roxenasha gave a mirthless laugh.

"Stupid kid," she laughed, and stepped into her own dark corridor. The battle was only just beginning.


	15. Chapter XV: Radiant Garden

Radiant Garden really did live up to its name. Kazé looked over the town and the waterfalls feeling once again distinctly peaceful. She knew now that Dad had been here before. Everything would be fine, and not everyone would be plunged into the unknown as they had done in Enchanted Dominion. At the moment it seemed as though the main problem with her sister. Sori had been "Are we there yet?"ing for the entire journey (which by this time had driven everyone who wasn't Mizu into a mild insanity) and Mizu was finding his father's minor breakdown highly amusing.

Kairi walked past Axel (who was bodily carrying Sori out of the Gummi Ship) to look at Kazé.

"Mom?"

"Yes?"

"It's beautiful."

"Yeah."

"Have you ever been here before?" Kazé didn't know why she had asked that question but there seemed to be something like recognition in her mother's face. Kairi paused as though thinking.

"I don't know," she said. "I can't remember, but it seems slightly familiar. I may have been here long ago."

The Gummi Ship was parked on the battlements of the town of Radiant Garden, the Castle above them in the bright light of the day. Away in the distance were mountains that almost looked like they were made out of a deep blue glass, and nestled deep within its ridges was another castle, although this one looked distinctly less grand and homey, the sign of the Heartless painted in black and red on its walls. Sora looked over at it.

"Wouldn't Leon and the others have done something about that yet?" he asked to no one in particular.

"Easier said than done," said Axel.

"Put me down!" said Sori, now kicking. Axel dropped her promptly, resulting in Sori folding her arms behind her head (very like to her father) and grinning embarrassedly. Mizu grinned and held out a hand to help her up. Mickey looked up at Sora.

"Darkness is a powerful thing," he said. "And it would be hard to uproot it. Especially here."

"Where it all began," said Axel. "Home sweet home! It's been a while."

"So all we have done before was just pushing it back?" asked Donald, looking deeply saddened.

"Not exactly?" said Mickey. "They're not as powerful as they once were."

"Which is why they're workin' with the Organisation?" asked Goofy.

"That makes sense," said Sora.

"But they're not happy about it," said Riku. "From what the Assassin said back in Enchanted Dominion, they really don't like Number XV."

"And I don't blame them!" said Axel. "And knowing Rox, she's not gonna be doing it for want of friends."

"She wants something from each of the worlds she has ordered the Heartless to go to."

"She's trying to trap us," said Mickey. "She knows that a Heartless invasion is going to be priority."

"Guess so," said Sora. "But what does that mean?"

"That she gets away every time," said Mizu. Everyone looked at him. "What? Because I'm thirteen I'm not allowed to join in the conversation? Me and Sori are still here. And I think you're right. The thing is though, what's she want?"

"And who's gonna be stabbing who in the back first?" said Sori. "That might be useful to know, coz it will happen. You said so." There was a silence, and then Axel gave a loud exclamation.

"The elements!"

"Huh?" asked Sora.

"She needs memories and symbols of the elements for each resurrected member of the Organisation. She needs a person with a heart to remember them (whether present or not) and a symbol of the element. Ice, Earth, Illusion, Lightning and Plants: Vexen, Lexaeus, Zexion, Larxene and Marluxia."

"May seem like a crazy question," said Mizu, "but what's wrong with getting them all in the same place? I mean they can't be hard to get hold of." Axel shrugged.

"Maybe there's got to be a level of magic linked to it. I don't know. Magic was never my strong point."

"Maybe," said Donald. "But either way, we've still got to find her before she brings the Organisation back."

"But what about Kairi's Keyblade?" asked Goofy. "Dontcha think we should find out more about it first?"

"So we'll see Merlin and see what he thinks," said Sora. "And who knows, maybe we'll see some of the others. Kairi, Kazé!" They turned around.

"What?" asked Kairi.

"We're going."

Sori saw something flit across the stone paving in front of her as she followed the others. Stopping she turned to look at what it was, earning her a look from Kazé.

"Sori, what're you doing?"

"I just saw something: a puppy or something, I think." Mizu turned around too, looking interested.  
"What's going on?"

"Sori thinks she saw a puppy."

"Look!" Sori pointed at something moving in the shadow. "There it is again." The 'puppy' leapt up the wall of a nearby building and hung half way off the wall giggling slightly. All three children's jaws dropped.

"That's no puppy," said Mizu slowly. The thing giggled again. It definitely wasn't a puppy, it was blue and had a mouthful of sharp teeth, yet there was a particular cuteness about it somehow.

"Lee-ya!" it said.

"It talks," said Kazé.

"Awesome," said Sori. "Come here, little guy. It's OK. I'm your friend."

"Friend?"

"Yeah, friend."

"Friend circle."

"Huh?" said Mizu looking puzzled, but Sori ignored him.

"What's your name?" she asked. "I'm Sori."

"Sori."

"No, that's my name. What's yours?"

"Name?"

"This is hopeless," said Kazé. "We'd better go back before the others realise we're not with them. We don't know where Merlin lives."

"Give him a minute," said Sori.

"How do you know he's a he?"

"What's your name, little guy?"

"My name Stitch."

"Stitch? OK, Stitch, come on down. We're not going to hurt you." Stitch jumped down off the wall and into Sori's outstretched arms. She cuddled him.

"Awwwww. He's so cute! Can we keep him?"

"Sori, we don't even know what 'he' _is_," said Kazé. "Or who he belongs to."

"Lee-ya."

"OK, he said that before," said Mizu. "What does it mean?"

"Lee-ya. Kiss-ha."

"OK, I have no idea what you're talking about, little guy," said Mizu, looking at Stitch with puzzlement. Stitch suddenly perked up and looked at something over Kazé's shoulder.

"Lee-ya!" he called again and leapt back up the wall.

"Hey, wait," said Sori, reaching up to try and catch him, but suddenly felt a sharp pain in her hand. "Ow!" She withdrew her hand to see what was wrong with it and saw a tiny star-shaped piece of metal sticking out of the back of her hand, the tip of one point embedded in it. Sori pulled it out with a wince as the other two turned in the direction the star must have been thrown from. There was a girl, about Kazé's age (if not a bit older) dressed in red and black, two black pigtails tied back in ribbons, standing with her hands on her hips over on the town wall. She was giving them a stare out of her purple eyes that all three found rather disconcerting.

"OK, what're you doing here and what are you three doing with Stitch."

"Is he yours?" asked Kazé. "Sorry."

"No, he's not," replied the girl. "He comes and he goes, but we're all quite friendly with him." She did a perfect summersault off the wall and landed on the ground in front of them. "Which just leaves me with who are you and what are you doing in Radiant Garden?" She took out another star and examined it.

"That hurt, you know," said Sori, rubbing her now-bleeding hand.

"Sorry," grinned the girl. "But on the plus side it got your attention." She took a jump back, rolling the star between her fingers like a coin. "Sooooooooooooooooooo... are you going to tell me who you are?"

"Kazé, Sori and Mizu," said Kazé, indicating each of them in turn. The girl grinned.

"Hi, Kazé, Sori and Mizu! I'm Lia! Nice to meetcha! So why're you here?" Kazé, Sori and Mizu all looked at each other.

"Well," said Kazé. "Rather long and complicated."

"Then give me the short version," said Lia.

"Mom's gone to see Merlin," said Sori. "That's really all we know."

"Oh, and Dad said he wanted to meet up with some old friends," said Mizu. "What were their names, Sori?"

"I can't remember."

"Not looking good," said Lia. "You may be in trouble, so..." She flipped one of her pigtails back. "...You may be having to get past me."

"What?" said Kazé. "Look, Leah..."

"Lia."

"Lia, we're not looking for a fight. We're just ..." Another star landed between two of Kazé's toes silencing her promptly.

"Yeah, but," said Lia, "what about Stitch?"

"I saw him and followed him," said Sori. "That's my fault."

"Oh, OK," said Lia. "So, Sori: one on one: you and me. How 'bout it?" Sori smiled. Kazé caught her look as she removed the star from her shoe.

"Don't you dare!" she said. "We're here to fight Heartless, not her."

"I think I can take two minutes out," said Sori, and summoned her Keyblade. Lia's eyes widened.

"You have a Keyblade! Cool!"

"Gonna chicken out!"

"No way!"

"LIA!"

A loud bang echoed around them as something shot between Sori and Lia and punched a hole in a water barrel. Everyone looked to see what it was, just in time to see another dark haired girl dressed in black, red and gold, lowering a bladed pistol. She looked older than Lia but whoever she was Lia seemed to recognise her.

"Kisha!"

"I'm sure you were told not to pick random fights," said the other girl, walking up and looking at the others, taking a long hard look at Sori's Keyblade. "You're a Keyblader?" she asked Sori, sliding the gunblade into a holster (_She has two?_ thought Sori, looking to a second holster on her belt).

"We all are," said Mizu threateningly, drawing his own Keyblade. The new girl looked vaguely amused.

"Kisha Leonheart," she said raising her hand to shake theirs. Sori took it and shook it looking puzzled.

"OK..."

"And you would be?"  
"I'm Sori. That's Kazé, my sister; and Mizu, my brother."

"I see you've met Lia," said Kisha, giving the girl over her shoulder a look. Lia bowed her head, as if humbled. "I'm sorry. She has a habit of getting a little over-excited with those stars."

"Kisha..."

"Lia, they're Keybladers. You don't challenge a Keyblader." Kisha looked up. "Hey, Stitch."

"Hello, Kiss-ha!" Kisha smiled and then looked back to the others. "Sorry, but why...?"

"Mom was going to Merlin's house," said Mizu, answering the unfinished question. "And now we're a bit lost..." Kisha gave another smile.

"Friends of Merlin are friends of ours," she said. "Come on, Lia!"

"Sorry," said Lia, starting to walk off and then turning back. "You guys don't mind if I have those stars back do you, because Mom said that..."

"Lia!"  
"Sorry, Kisha."

"We'll take you to Merlin's house," said Kisha. "If your parents aren't there then at least Merlin will. He'll help more than we can."

"That's nice of you, Kisha," said Kazé. "But why?" Kisha shrugged.

"You are Keybladers. I take it within my best interests to be kind to you. We are not enemies. We needn't be. Especially because of the castle."

"The Heartless Castle?"

"Yes. But I will take you to Merlin's. After all, that is what you want. Follow me." Stitch jumped onto Kisha's shoulder as she led the way down the road.


	16. Chapter XVI: Merlin's House

Lia was distinctly quiet on the way to Merlin's house, as thought Kisha's presence was having some kind of effect on her. Kazé didn't blame her. Kisha almost radiated her authority, and Lia had evidently known that a long time. They would have known each other for a while at a guess. However after a while, Lia decided to say something.

"How come you're not up at the castle with K?"

"He said that he would prefer to be alone. So I came down here. Good thing I did."

"Kisha..."

"Lia, don't start. Besides, I need to rearm."

"Why, how many bullets have you used up? No wait, why were you shooting?"

"Heartless showed up earlier. Not many, but they were fast. Which also reminds me, I need to do some more target practice when in a minute." Kisha and Lia veered off towards a house, tucked away in the corner of a street. Stitch jumped off Kisha's shoulder and ran up the wall, disappearing on to the roof.

"Aww," said Sori loudly. "I'm gonna miss him."

"He'll be back," said Kisha, and reached out for the door, but someone had opened it first. It was Sora.

"Oh," he said and stepped back. Kisha stepped in, followed by Lia and then by Kazé, Sori and Mizu.

"Don't worry. We're alive," said Sori. Sora didn't look impressed. Behind him was a very disgruntled looking Donald and cheerful looking Goofy. Kairi was sat on a table in the centre of the room (which seemed to be made almost entirely of books).

"And you were where?" asked Donald as Kazé closed the door.

"Being introduced to my darling sister," said Kisha. "Kisha Leonheart, by the way. And this is Lia."

"Lia Leonheart?" asked Mizu looking at Lia with raised eyebrows. Lia rolled her purple eyes.

"I know. It sounds stupid. That's why I use Kisaragi."  
"What?"

"My mom's name."

"Speaking of which..." Kisha walked past the others and further into the room. "Cid?" A chair at the far side of the room twisted around and a very grumpy-looking middle-aged man with a cigarette between his lips turned to face her.

"Hey, Kisha. How can I help ya?"

"Cid, where is everyone?" Cid took the cigarette from his mouth and looked thoughtful.

"Aerith went out with Haley a while back. I've no idea where your mom is, but your dad's hangin' around here somewhere. The old fool's upstairs messin' with something or other, and if you're referin' to any of those others, they went with Merlin."

"Right, I'll go and ask Merlin." Kisha squeezed past Kairi and padded up the stairs in a corner, her pair of gunblades swinging at her hips. Kairi stood up.

"What's going on anyway?" asked Kazé. Cid laughed.

"More Heartless," he said, "and they're turning up quicker than normal. Thing is though we're convinced it's got something to do with that girl in black."

"You've seen her?" asked Sora. "Where?" Cid shrugged.

"I ain't seen her personally, but Leon has, and he didn't like her. There's always someone watching the castle now and the Heartless Castle."

"So where is Leon?"

"Somewhere around. Not sure where."

"I'm going to talk to Merlin," said Kairi and head towards the stairs, but Sori zipped past her and was up the stairs already.

"Hey, wait!" called Mizu and followed her. Kazé sighed.

"I'm guessing they want to see Merlin," said Kazé. Lia laughed.

"I like your family. They remind me of me."

"You can keep them if you want," said Kazé. "Might save me a lot of trouble."

"Think I'll pass," said Lia. "Anyway, you go ahead. I might go and see how K is."

"Who's..." started Sora, but Lia had already left.

Kazé followed her mother up the narrow stairs in the house to a room above the main area. This room was a lot less covered in books and therefore seemed bigger. Axel was leaning against a wall, twisting a chackram through his fingers. Riku was talking to Kisha now, who was looking deadly serious, and Mickey had been talking to an old man with a long white beard, dressed in a blue robe and a pointed hat. Kazé assumed that that man must be Merlin. On the arrival of Sori and Mizu he had turned and looked confused.

"Good heavens!"

"Sori. Mizu," said King Mickey. "You're all right."

"Yep. Didn't even see a Shadow," said Sori, looking very proud of herself. Kairi and Kazé stepped off the stairs and into the room. Merlin looked up.

"Ah, Kairi. Now, that Keyblade of yours is very interesting. I am not even sure whether it is a Keyblade at all. It doesn't react like any other Keyblades I have ever seen."

"What do you mean?" asked Kairi. "It looks like a Keyblade."

"But it's very specific," said Merlin. "Watch this." He crossed to a table in the far corner on which lay the Keyblade forged from Resurae. Axel, sensing something interesting, came over to watch. "Now," continued the wizard. "We know that King Mickey and Riku are chosen Keyblade wielders, but this Keyblade would not allow them to wield it. It seems specific to you, Kairi. Watch." He nodded at Mickey who at once reached out and picked up the blade, almost immediately, the blade vanished and reappeared in Kairi's hand. Sori's eyes widened.

"Weird," said Mizu. "So what is it?"

"Well, if it is a Keyblade it is very powerful and is specific only to Kairi."

"And Queen Aurora," said Kazé suddenly. "She held the Keyblade for longer than Mickey and literally had to give it to Mom, rather than it jump to her of its own decision."

"So its only allowed to have one owner at once? What?" asked Axel.

"We could test that," said Merlin. "If Kairi gives someone who is a Keyblade wielder that blade and then they give it back, without the Keyblade deciding to change hands..."

"OK," said Kairi, and turned to Kazé.

"Kazé, I give you this Keyblade," and passed it into Kazé's hands. Kazé closed her fingers around the hilt, but as soon as she had done so, the Keyblade jumped back into Kairi's hand.

"So much for that theory," muttered Axel. Merlin pondered.

"How exactly did Queen Aurora gain this Keyblade?" he asked.

"Resurae made it," said Kazé. Merlin looked puzzled.

"Resurae?"

"Aurora's Nobody," said Kairi. "When they rejoined, Resurae harnessed the energy to create a Keyblade from a doll."

"And the doll?"

"Normal," said Kazé, to the best of my knowledge. "She said something about... 'harnessing the power of that reunion'."

"Light..." whispered Kairi.

"Huh?" said Mizu.

"What?" said Kairi.

"You just said, 'Light'," said Sori.

"Yes," said Kairi. "Light. That blade was forged in Light."

"And only works when there is no Darkness," said Mickey.

"So only the Princesses of Heart would be able to wield it," came a new voice from behind them. Everyone turned to look, even Riku and Kisha halted their conversations to look. Squall Leonheart leant against the wall by the stairs listening in. Kisha looked slightly scandalised.

"How long have you been there?" she asked.

"Not long," answered Leon honestly. "I've been speaking to Sora downstairs. Apparently, you are having the same problem as us."

"Let me guess," said Axel. "About this tall, blonde and wearing a coat like this, right?" Leon nodded but fixed hostile eyes an Axel. The Flurry of Dancing Flames sighed. "How many more times am I going to have to say I'm one of the good guys?"

"I'd probably get used to it," grinned Mizu. Axel rolled his eyes.

"Great..."

"Either way we always have someone up at the castle in case she shows up."

"Hate to rain on your parade, but she can manipulate Dark Corridors," said Axel. "She can get past your guard. She doesn't have to walk in like most people."

"That's why an old friend of ours has been sent to watch the Heartless. If they so much as open their front doors she'll know."

"Yuffie?" asked Sora, coming up the stairs.

"No, she's watching the town at the moment."

"Aerith then?"

"No. You won't have met her yet. Cloud found her a few years ago."

"Where is Cloud anyway?"

"No idea," said Leon. "We haven't seen him for months. He doesn't spend long hanging around here anyway."

"Still after Sephiroth?"

"We guess," said Kisha. "Tifa doesn't stick around much either. She's not here either."

"Maybe," said Kairi. "But about the Heartless. They're not going to stay in that castle forever."

"Well," said Merlin. "We are as prepared as we can be." He crossed to the stairs and descended. "After all, you Sora, remember our success at the Battle of a Thousand Heartless."

"There were definitely more than a thousand Heartless there," muttered Sora.

"However," said Merlin, ignoring Sora's comment, "we know we could fight off a large number of Heartless if we work together, but Cid here has been working on an interworld program to detect the Darkness that Heartless give off."

"Yep," said Cid, hearing as everyone came down into the lower room, and tapping on his computer keyboard. "Large numbers of Heartless indicate danger zones, and this baby will pick 'em up."

"That's smart," said Goofy.

"Thanks," said Cid.

"And might be more useful than we think," said Mickey. Everyone looked at him.

"What do you mean?" asked Riku. "Do you think we could pick up the Generals using that?"

"Not individually, but we could pick up their armies," said Mickey.

"And the army follows the General," said Axel.

"Makes sense," said Sora. "So we know that where there's an army, there's a General in that World?"

"How does it work?" asked Sori, leaning over her brother to see the computer screen.

"More stars: more Heartless," said Cid. "Normal is 0. More Heartless means more stars. When it reaches seven stars, that World is screwed."

"Or there's an army there," asked Mizu. Cid shrugged.

"Possibly, Kid. How big are these armies you're looking for?" Everyone looked at Axel.

"Hey, don't look at me! I don't know that, but they will be large enough to register seven stars in action and still quite high in hibernation."

"Which is why Radiant Garden registers as a five already, I guess," said Kisha. Cid chewed the end of his cigarette.

"Yeah," he said.

"Any other high points?" asked Sora.

"A few," said Cid, but nothing dangerous at the moment. "There are way too many corridors all over the place though, and they're all linked through here."

"Does that mean we're staying for a bit?" asked Sori. Kairi nodded. "Great! I like it here. Can we go and look round?"

"Sori!" said Kazé, looking scandalised. "Haven't you been listening? We could get a Heartless invasion any minute."

"So don't go near Hollow Bastian Castle. I get it, but if I stay in Radiant Garden, and you guys go with me."  
"Sounds OK," said Mizu. Sori and Mizu looked at their mother and father in turn with puppy-eyes. Kazé brought her hand to her face. Kairi looked worried, and then at Kisha and Leon, before at Sora. She then nodded.

"OK, but rules, you stay with each other and if anything bad happens you head straight back here. And above all. Do _**not **_leave the walls of the town." Sori saluted.

"Yes Ma'am," she said. Kazé walked up to her.

"We're going nowhere without me, OK Sori."

"Sure."

"Not too far," warned Kairi as the door opened.

"OK."

"I'd better go and check on the Castle anyway," said Kisha. "K's been up there way too long, and I need to find the Gull Wings and make sure they're still on our side." Kisha left too. Everyone turned back to the computer.

"How many worlds apart from this one are infected?" asked Axel, thoughtfully. Cid counted.

"Five," he said.

"Which ones?" asked Riku.

"Port Royale, Halloween Town, Prince's Castle, Twilight Town and one other which we don't recognise. All of 'em have about two stars. Wait, three."

"So first of all we've got to try and cut the paths from here and then destroy them."

"So how many symbols does she need?"  
"Five out of six, assuming she hasn't got any more since me," said Axel.

"But if she knows you're here," said Leon. "Doesn't that make sense for her to try a different tac? She could be making you think that's what she wants. Has she raised any more Nobodies?"

"Nobodies have no hearts," said Axel, "And wouldn't think that you could understand them even with my help. She made her first mistake with that."

"She's confident," said Riku. "Do you reckon we could exploit that?" The King nodded.

"It's a plan," he said.

"I'll find Yuffie," said Leon, and left. Everyone else looked at each other.

"So wadda we do now?" asked Donald.

"See what we can find out," suggested Kairi, holding up her Keyblade. "This is a Keyblade of Light. What would that do to the Darkness?"


	17. Chapter XVII: Motives

Roxenasha looked up at the Guardian.

"To what do I owe the honour?" she asked. "Your castle looks quiet if..."

"Ienzo," said the Guardian, addressing the Strategist. "Go." The Strategist vanished and Roxenasha smiled at the Guardian.

"So what can I do for you?" she asked, taking a few steps towards him. "A little birdie told me you don't trust me yet, and really I don't blame you. I mean, look at me." The Guardian didn't seem to be too interested. He gave her a bored look out of his yellow eyes.

"You're right, I don't," he said. "But your proposition does present us with advantages. However we don't appreciate the fact that we were told nothing of your plans."

"I'm not planning on killing you all," said Roxenasha. "There would be no point. Consider it peaceful coexistence. Heartless and Nobodies don't like each other, but we shouldn't fight."

"She's alive you know," said the Guardian, rising out of his chair and floating down to a point a few inches above the ground, directly in front of the Nobody. Roxenasha looked intrigued.

"Who?" she asked.

"Maleficent. Clearly your powers are not as great as you thought." Roxenasha looked thoughtful.

"I underestimated the witch," she said, more to herself than the Guardian. "I will be sure not to do that again. I know that the Keybladers are here though. I'm guessing that by the lack of anyone in this castle, you did as well. How many Generals have you sent off-world?"  
"You are overstepping yourself," saud the Guardian coldly. Roxenasha gave the Guardian a sarcastic bow.

"I am sorry, your Highness." The Guardian landed softly on the floor in front of her, narrowing his eyes. Roxenasha looked up at him. "I'm getting a hint of disapproval. Look, this isn't going to go well if you're not going to be honest with me." Roxenasha raised her right hand and stroked the Guardian's cheek. He snarled at her and shook his head to dislodge her hand. Roxenasha smiled. "Tetchy," she said, and turned away.

"Who do you think you are?" asked the Guardian. "You're not one of us."

"Good Lord, I don't want to be. I'm about as dependant on you as you are on me."

"Less so," said the Guardian. "You need us to fight your battles. We don't _need_ you for anything, and we will not be your soldiers."

"If that's the case, then why are you so adamantly refusing to dismiss me?" asked Roxenasha. "I'm far from stupid, Guardian. I know that many of your Generals would rather I was out of the way. Why won't you let them?" There was a short silence and Roxenasha narrowed her sky-blue eyes. "I see... Just as I anticipated. The Darkness obsesses you almost as much as it did your master, and the power I'm offering you is too much for you to refuse. I'd watch that hunger if I were you. Such strong feelings could be your downfall. Of course, what would I know?"

The Guardian narrowed his eyes again and began to float again.

"What do you know?" he asked. "You know nothing of a heart. You cannot judge what you have never had." Roxenasha shrugged.

"Perhaps," she said. "But I have something I was meaning to ask you about the brat." She indicated the spot where the Strategist had vanished from. "He seems a little..." She paused, searching for a word. "...Concerned about my being in the castle. I won't be selfish enough to consider that he was worried about me running into any of those guards from Radiant Garden. There's something you're hiding up there." The Guardian cut her off.

"If you want to know what's up there, you're not going to get it out of me," said the Guardian. "The main reason for that being that it is not relevant to this situation. Another being that is it is no concern of you, and another is that I know very little about it myself."

"OK, so I'm not getting any special treatment. I get it," said Roxenasha. "Anyway, I'll see you soon, anyway. I've got somewhere to be right now. I'll see you when I get back. Oh, and by the way, I'm going to want to get back into that castle at some stage. Secret project or not, I need to get into the Caverns of Remembrance. I'll see you soon, just keep to your side of the bargain and I won't bother you." Roxenasha opened a Dark Corridor with a quick gesture and smiled at the Guardian. "Good luck." She turned around and walked into the Dark Corridor. "You're gonna need it," she said, as the corridor closed. There was a crash as the Guardian threw a chandelier at the point she had vanished from and then rounded on the empty chairs around him.

"How many of you were listening?" he asked. "And if I find out you were and didn't own up, I will start killing!" There were several pops as the Bard, the Ace and the Marksman appeared in their chairs.

"Sorry," said the Marksman, not looking sorry at all. "Couldn't help it." The Guardian sat back in his own chair.

"Sir," said the Bard.

"What?"

"What do we do now? If she..."

"If you were listening, she relies on us right now. For the time being she's of no danger to us."

"But no advantage either," said the Ace. "We've established that too. What is the point of her being here? Surely we can have those worlds by ourselves. We cannot lose this game."

"She is still an advantage," said the Guardian, raising a single finger. "With the Keybladers hunting us, her presence diverts their full attention away from us. And they are definitely aware of her. Lea's Nobody will have told them."

"Axel's not reliable though," said the Bard. "I know that from experience. He might think it's funny not to tell them."

"And yet he may have done," said the Guardian, turning his fiery yellow eyes on the Bard. "Do not make the mistake of thinking that you are the only person here who has ever met Axel. But better to overestimate the enemy than underestimate them." The Marksman groaned as if he was back on familiar territory.

"Please, don't start the 'if you hadn't been too cocky you'd still have your other eye' speech," sighed the Marksman. "I get that enough from Even. But I get what you mean."

"Good," said the Guardian. "So tread carefully." The Bard raised his hand. "What?"

"Can I go...?" The Guardian stood up, looking quite frightening. The Bard quickly disappeared into a Dark Corridor. The Guardian snarled.

"Useless little..." There was another Corridor opened as the Knight appeared in his seat.

"Sir, I've spoken to the others. They're waiting for the word to move in on their various worlds." Another Corridor opened and the Assassin walked through.

"Good news. There can be no other Light Keyblades," he said. "All of the other Princesses are complete beings. They can't forge their Keyblades without their Nobodies being separate."

"So we just need to watch Princess Kairi," said the Guardian. "She cannot be allowed to find out the full extent of that power. Light is a hole in the Darkness. See to it she can't use it, Lea."

"Yes, Sir." He vanished, muttering something inaudible. The Guardian traced the "X" scratched onto his face with one of his nails. The he looked at the Ace.

"Watch the corridors," he said. "I want to hear if anything crosses the barriers between worlds." The Ace nodded and vanished. The Guardian looked at the Marksman. "You watch the doors, and you," (here he looked at the Knight) "The same." Both vanished leaving the Guardian alone. He made to get up but before he could, another Dark Corridor opened and the Strategist reappeared.

"Guardian," he said. "We have a problem. They're in the Castle."

"Then it begins," said the Guardian. "You know what to do, Ienzo."


	18. Chapter XVIII: Children of the Lost

The three children ran into someone else only a few streets away from the house. A woman with long brown hair and a white dress was hovering around the waterfalls, as if looking for someone. She looked concerned, so Kazé called out.

"Hi!" The woman turned and smiled at them.

"Hi," she said back. "You three haven't seen a little girl have you? She's quite small, blonde hair, called Haley?" All three shook their heads.

"No, sorry," said Kazé.

"Are you Aerith?" asked Mizu, remembering the name. The woman nodded.

"Yes. You have heard of me?"

"Yep," said Sori. "Spoken to Leon and everything." Aerith smiled again. She had a very pleasant smile. It had the feel of summer sunshine to them: relaxing.

"Sorry," said Aerith. "I don't know your names yet."

"Kazé, Sori, Mizu," said Mizu, indicating his two sisters and then himself. Aerith smiled.

"Well, Kazé, Sori, Mizu, it's nice to meet you. I've got to look for Haley. I'm sorry I can't stay."

"It's all right," said Kazé. "If we see her, we'll tell her you're looking for her."

"Thank you," said Aerith, and walked off in the opposite direction. The three of them watched her go, standing still.

"Well, that would be a signal for us to help someone," said Kazé. Sori looked up at her sister in amazement.

"Are you getting the hang of this adventure thing?" she asked. "Wow, Kazé; you do have a backbone!" Kazé gave her sister a resigned look.

"Just because I am more cautious than you two does not mean I don't have a backbone," she said curtly. "It means that I don't get in as much trouble. Besides, finding Haley seems the nice thing to do."

Something scuttled by their legs. Sori looked down and gave a slight squeak.

"Awwww. It's Stitch. Hi, Stitch."

"Sori!"

"He remembers me!"

"Sori," said Kazé. "Focus. We're trying to find Haley remember."

"Haley?" asked Stitch.

"Yeah," said Sori, kneeling down to talk to him. "Have you seen her, Stitch."  
"Stitch see Haley."

"You've seen her?" asked Mizu, also bending down. "Where?" Stitch giggled and ran off. Sori and Mizu at once pelted after him. Kazé rolled her eyes.

"Slow down!" she yelled and followed them.

Either Stitch was a very fast runner, or Haley wasn't too far away, because only after a few roads did they see a girl, sat in the middle of a silent square, making a flower chain. She was small, only about seven or eight years old, with long blonde hair that reached her waist. She was wearing a white dress, rather like that of Aerith's, only smaller, and with embroidered flowers around the hem. Stitch scampered up to her and sat on her knee. The girl looked up, pleasantly surprised.

"Hi, Stitch! How're you?" she said.

"Excuse me," said Kazé, making the girl literally jump. Kazé backed off slightly. "Sorry," she said. "I didn't mean to scare you. Are you Haley?"

"Yeah," said the girl, slowly wrapping her arms around Stitch. "My name's Haley. Why?"

"Aerith was looking for you." Haley looked a little less concerned and let go of Stitch and continued threading the different flowers together. "I was going to tell her. I'm making a flower necklace for K. It's lucky."

"Who's K?" asked Mizu.

"My brother," said Haley. "My big brother. He's a lot older than me. I don't see him much anymore. He stays up by the castle a lot now. I don't understand why. No one really talks to me about it, but I like to see my brother, so I'm going to bring him this to cheer him up. I want K to smile."

"I understand that," said Kazé, "but you need to tell Aerith where you're going."  
"She's not my mom. She doesn't have to," said Haley. "And I'm not a baby. I can take care of myself."

"But she'd obviously like to know where you're going. Did you tell your parents then?" asked Kazé. Haley threaded the last flowers together and put them on her knee, next to Stitch.

"I don't know where Mom and Dad are," said Haley. "Aerith looks after me and K's OK by himself. K's nineteen. He's all grown up. Sometimes I wonder if he ever really pays me any attention. Anyway..." Haley stood up and picked up Stitch. "Stitch, can you tell Aerith I'll be back in about an hour? I'm just going to take these to K, right."

"Haley... fowers... for K!"

"Yeah," said Haley, and Stitch jumped off her shoulder, running away and down the road. Haley picked up her flowers and began to walk towards the castle. Kazé ran afterwards.

"But..."

"I'm OK," said Haley. "I'll be good."

"It's not that," said Kazé. "We just want to come with you; and knowing these two, I won't be able to keep them away." Haley gave her a small smile.

"OK. And Kisha might be up there too," said Haley with a smile. "She hangs out with K a lot. She's a nice girl."

"Yeah," agreed Sori. "I like her a lot." Haley nodded.

"So's Lia. Have you met the Gull Wings yet by the way?"

"No," said Kazé, intrigued. "Who're the Gull Wings."

"Pixies," said Haley. "We think they are anyway. There's Yuna, Rikku and Paine, and they're quite funny. You'll probably see them hanging around somewhere. But, I never asked. Who are you?"

"I'm Kazé," said Kazé. "That's Sori, and that's Mizu."

"Nice to meet you. So do you want to see my brother?" asked the little girl, and led them up a flight of worn stone steps onto the town wall.

The view from the walls and the path up to the castle was amazing. Like at the point where they had parked the Gummi Ship, the dark shadow of the Castle of Hollow Bastian lingered. The purple rocks between the castle and the town almost sparkled with some unknown mineral in the sun. The town itself spread out beautifully amidst flowers and waterfalls of the valley. The path they took to the castle climbed up out of the walls of the town and into a rocky passage where above them loomed the castle. Haley led the way up towards the castle. The path spiralled around the mountain until they came to a set of stone steps that came to an open door. The children looked up at the castle. Close up, it looked so much bigger than it had done from the town. Haley walked in through the doors.

"Hello!" she called. "K?"

"He's not here," came another voice and Kisha emerged from a room to the left.

"Hi," said Mizu, but Kisha did not return the greeting. She was looking at Haley.

"You do know that Aerith's looking for you, right?"

"Yeah. I sent Stitch to tell her where I was."

"Why are you up here anyway? You're not supposed..."

"I wanted to bring these to K," said Haley, raising the flowers. "That and I'm good. I've got these three to look after me." There was a long pause. Kisha folded her arms and looked disapproving.

"I'm going to find Aerith," she said, walking past them towards the door. "And don't think you've got away with this, Haley. You _knew_ you weren't supposed to be here."

"But why?" asked Haley. "Nobody tells me anything." Kisha turned around and drew a gunblade.

"Duck," she said, taking aim at Haley.

"What...?"

"DUCK!" All four of them dropped to the floor and a bullet whistled over their heads. There was a loud thump as a Shadow hit the floor in front of them and evaporated into a dark mist. Kisha holstered her gunblade again. Haley stood up.

"What _was_ that thing?" she asked.

"Heartless," said Mizu. "Watch out for them."

"But..."

"Explain later," said Sori.

"Kisha," called Kazé. Kisha looked at her.

"Yes."

"Where's K?"

"Probably in the Bailey. You can't miss him. He's tall blonde and can't smile for toffee. Anyway, when you find him tell him I want to talk to him. I'm just going to find Aerith. I'll catch up with you later." Kisha left.

"And the Bailey is where?" asked Mizu, looking at Haley.

"Down by the wall, I think," said Haley.

"You're right, but I wouldn't bother if I were you," came another voice. All four pan around, looking for the source of the voice. Three, pixie-like creatures were hovering at the far side of the corridor. On realising they had been noticed, they flew over and each looked at Kazé, Sori and Mizu.

"They don't seem to evil," said the blonde one, hovering around Sori's head and looking into her eyes.

"But are they rich?" asked the silver-haired one, pulling Kazé's hair.

"Ow," said Kazé, batting her away. The pixie flew backwards, looking slightly hurt.

"That's not nice," she said in a monotone, folding her arms.

"Paine, stop bullying the kids," said the last one, sitting on Mizu's shoulder, earning her a bewildered look from the boy. "Ya know, this one reminds me of that kid we met years ago at the battle. God, I've forgotten his name."

"Did he even mention it, Yuna?" asked the blonde. The one called Yuna considered.

"Dunno Rikku. Can't remember."

"OK, OK," said Kazé, raising her hands in half-surrender. "What's going on?" The three pixies swiftly formed themselves into an obviously well-rehearsed pose.

"Gull Wings," said Rikku. "Cool, huh!"

"OK," said Kazé, looking resigned. "Might have guessed."

"Why shouldn't we bother about K?" asked Haley. Yuna zipped down so she was level with Haley's face.

"He's on his way up here," she said.

"So stay here and he'll be here in a few minutes," said Paine, in the same toneless voice. "Save you a walk."

"OK..." said Sori slowly. She looked at Haley who nodded.

"Good," said Rikku. "Now that's cleared up, let's go and look round. Laters!" The three Gull Wings vanished with a little pop. Mizu was the first to speak.

"I would like to point out right about now that that is officially the weirdest thing I have seen all day, and this wasn't a normal day when it started."

"Agreed," said Sori. "But what do we do now: just hang around?" Haley sat down.

"May as well," she said. Kazé looked down at her.

"Can you trust the Gull Wings?" she asked. Haley shrugged.

"Kinda," she said. "They're obsessed with treasure, but aside from that, they do have a bit of a sense of right and wrong. They were on our side at the Battle twenty years ago (but I'm not sure whether or not that was because they felt sorry for us or were annoyed because Maleficent never paid them)."

"I've got that awkward feeling that it was the latter," muttered Kazé.

"What is this castle anyway?" asked Sori. "I know that one over there is Hollow Bastion. So..." Haley looked up at her.

"You guys aren't from round here are you?" she asked. "Everyone here knows that."

"No," said Kazé. "We're not really."

"You're from another world," said Haley and then she smiled. "It's OK. I know all about them. Mom and Dad are somewhere out there and I know they'll be back sometime."

"But why aren't they here?" asked Kazé. "Or why aren't you with them?" Haley shrugged.

"I don't know," she said. "K says it is because Dad was chasing the Darkness and Mom followed him to act as his light. She didn't want me to get hurt so she left me with Aerith. I was three." Mizu bit his lip. The familiarity of leaving children in the hands of friends to protect them made him feel slightly guilty. Selphie must be just as worried as Aerith about the disappearance of him and his sisters. Would she understand? Kazé looked guilty too but Sori didn't seem too phased.

"But what about this castle?" she asked. "What is it? Who owns it?"

"No one now," said Haley, "but it was once Ansem the Wise's castle. No one comes up here much. It's all left as it was. But the thing is there's supposed to be ghosts up here. Are they those Heartless things?"

"Maybe," said Mizu. "I don't know." Haley curled her legs up against her chest, setting the flowers down in front of her. Suddenly there was a sound in the steps outside. Sori and Mizu both drew their keyblades and turned on the door. Kazé summoned her keyblade too, but did not adopt a fighting stance. Haley looked up as a young man pushed the door open.

"K!" she called and ran past the others, straight at the young man. All three of the others withdrew their keyblades as the little girl hugged the young man. He was a lot older than her, but also had blonde hair, but whereas Haley's eyes were brown, his were a deep blue. He was dressed blue as well, but (as Kisha had pointed out) his face seemed rather set in a serious expression. Even as he hugged his sister back, he did not smile. Haley looked up.

"Hi K," she grinned. "I brought you these." She held out the flower chain. "It's lucky. I made it for you." K took the flowers from his sister and placed them around his neck.  
"Thanks," he said, but still did not smile. "That's nice. What're you doing up here, Haley? Aren't you supposed to be with Aerith?" Haley rolled her eyes.

"You're the third person to tell me that," said Haley sulkily. "I know. I've warned her." K picked her up.

"You're going back," he said, picking her up. Haley whined and batted his arm with her hands.

"K!" K stopped and set his eyes on the other three. He narrowed his eyes with suspicion.

"Who are you?" he said. "And why are you here?"

"Sori, Kazé, Mizu and to help," answered Sori, rather cheekily (gaining her a look a disapproval from her sister). K put his sister on the floor and walked towards the three. Mizu almost summoned his keyblade, but stopped himself in time. Somehow he got the impression that if he looked aggressive it wouldn't work in his favour. K continued to stare at them with his deep blue eyes.

"Who are you?" he repeated coldly. "How do I know that they didn't send you?"

"Because we have fully functioning hearts," said Sori. "Tends to be a good enough hint. We're not gonna..."

"Look," said Kazé, desperately trying to claw back some sanity and control into the conversation. "We're not here to hurt your sister, or anyone for that matter. We're here because of the Heartless."

"We're fighting them," said Mizu. "Like you." K didn't look entirely convinced but stopped approaching them.

"You're children," he said. "What can you do?"

"They're Keybladers," said another voice from behind them. Lia had arrived and was looking slightly out of breath. "How can you walk faster than I can run, K?" she asked.

"Because I walk and don't have to stop every three seconds to catch my breath," K replied. "And how do you know them?"

"Long story," said Lia. "Tell you later. Hey, Guys!"

"Hey," said Mizu, raising one hand in greeting. K turned to Lia.

"Where are they from?" Lia shrugged.

"Dunno, but Dad trusts them. I'd consider that good news." K said nothing, only walked past his sister and then out of the door.

"K?" asked Haley, but he didn't reply to her. Sori looked at Lia.

"What's up with him?" Lia put her hands on her hips.

"Nothing. He's always like this. Don't worry about it."

"OK..."

"Sure." Lia turned to look back out of the door. "K!" she followed him out. The others went after her but Haley stopped and turned around. She could feel something here. It wasn't nice. It felt like something was watching her, but there was nothing there.

"Haley." Haley turned. Kazé was looking at her with a slightly worried expression. Haley smiled.

"It's nothing," she said. "I just thought... never mind." She walked out ahead of Kazé, but Kazé now turned to look back. No, there was nothing.

The Strategist closed his eyes, behind the door he had slipped when the girl had sensed his presence. Keybladers in the castle? Now he had to do something. The Guardian had to know. They might be children, but a child had done so much damage to them last time. Besides, it was what they might tell the others that may be worrying. The little girl also seemed to some kind of intuition about there being something wrong and children were curious. If she told the Keybladers, there was only so much that he could do without getting his army over here. Yes, he'd have to tell the Guardian. The Strategist vanished into a dark corridor and closed it up behind him.

Yuna, Rikku and Paine sat on the edge of the one of the cliffs overlooking the now silent battlefield of twenty years ago. They were bored, and each holding a bun that they'd managed to con one of the stall owners in Radiant Garden into giving them. Rikku put down her bun.

"Soooooooooooooooooooo?" she asked.

"What?" asked Paine.

"What do we think of those kids?" asked Rikku. Yuna took another bite out of her bun before replying.

"They seem nice enough."

"But that's not what's important, Yu," said Rikku, kneeling up. Paine looked sideways at her and shook her head.

"They're just like that other one," she said. "Tragic story but very little by the way of treasure."

"Does this mean we're being moral?" asked Rikku. Yuna smiled.

"Not really. The wizard gives us the munny to stay here. I'm good with that. Besides, Leon may be worrying but I haven't seen a Heartless for twenty years. They're all boxed up inside that castle of theirs."

"Too scared to come out," said Paine, finishing her bun and standing up.

"Yeah," said Rikku, standing up and yelling out at the castle of Hollow Bastion in the distance. "YEAH, SCARDY CATS!" The ground trembled. Yuna dropped her bun and ran to look over the edge. Paine did the same and then glared at Rikku.

"What did you do?"

"I didn't mean to."

"You've made them angry."

"Uh oh," said Yuna, pointing. The other two looked. The whole valley seemed to have been flooded full of Darkness, which was slowly separating into an army of Heartless. It seemed endless, stretching all the way to the castle, and still lingering in the doors, and climbing down the walls. At their head was a humanoid figure, a young man in his late teens, dressed in black, with purplish hair which hid his right eye. He began to walk towards the town, with the army behind him.

"Help," whispered Rikku.

"Do you reckon we should tell the others?" asked Paine. Yuna said nothing but leaving her bun abandoned turned her back and fled back towards the castle.


	19. Chapter XIX: The Strategist's Army

The ground shook and the three keybladers gave each other worried looks.

"That didn't feel good," said Sori slowly. Mizu and Kazé both drew their keyblades, their sister following suit. Lia looked to K, who was stood at the top of the castle steps with his arms held wide in an signal of halt.

"K?" asked Lia, taking a tentative step towards him and looking curious. K didn't move, just continued staring through the valley, with a worried expression on his face. Haley walked forward to her brother and then gave a small exclaimation and pointed towards something in the sky.

"Look?" said the girl. Everyone looked up just in time to see whatever-it-was collide with Kazé's stomach at high speed. Kazé was thrown back, winded, holding tightly to a thrashing pixie.

"Let go! Let go!" screamed Yuna.

"I'm not going to hurt you," wheezed Kazé. Lia ran over.

"Yuna, what's wrong?" she asked. Paine soared over her head and hovered close to Yuna.

"They're coming," she said, and Kazé slowly released Yuna. "They're coming for us," said Paine. "We saw them." Yuna nodded fervently.

"Yeah," she said. "Huge army of Heartless. Bigger than last time. And there's a guy leading them. Kazé, Sori and Mizu all looked at each other.

"One of the generals?" asked Mizu, voicing their thoughts. Sori held out a hand to her sister to help her up.

"We'll need to find out," she said.

"What's going on?" a voice shouted from down the steps. Everyone looked. Kisha was stood at the bottom, holding Rikku tightly in her hands. Haley ran down to her. K's right hand twitched violently as his sister passed him, almost as if he had wanted to reach out and stop her.

"What's happening?" asked Haley as he brother decended the steps behind her. Kisha shook her head.

"I've no idea. I can't get much out of this one." Kisha let Rikku go, the pixie flying up the steps to join her fellow Gull Wings.

"Heartless," called Sori, bounding down the steps at top speed, Kazé, Mizu and Lia trying to keep up with her. Kisha looked at Haley.

"Then we need to get you out of here. Lia, could you take Haley back and get..." Haley moaned.

"Kisha, I'm not a baby. I'm eight. Stop treating me like I am one."

"Haley," started K.

"I'm gonna go have a look," said Haley and started running down towards the valley. K's eyes widened in fear.

"Haley, no." He pelted after her, followed by Kisha.

"Lia, get Dad," she yelled as the keybladers followed her. Lia looked to the three Gull Wings and folded her arms.

"Don't you three think you're done yet. Come with me."

Haley screeched to a halt overlooking the valley and looked down at the endless stream of Heartless stretching out before her.

"Woah," she said, feeling scared. "Help."

"Haley," her brother's voice hissed from behind her. "Get back here. Slowly." Haley began to edge slowly away from the edge of the cliff, but she felt very uneven. Haley wobbled. Something felt unstable. K's eyes widened as he saw his sister totter, the edge of the cliff crumbling under her fingers. He called out to her but Haley had already slipped and slid over the edge of the cliff.

Without even thinking, K dived forwards and without any consideration for himself leapt from the edge of the cliff. Kazé, Sori and Mizu followed, digging their keyblades into the cliff wall to slow their decent. Kisha drew her gunblades, not a moment too soon. Haley's fall had not been discrete. Understandably she had screamed loudly and several Heartless had turned to see what the noise was and had broken ranks to deal with what they perceived as an attack. Heartless rounded on Haley, and Kisha opened fire on them, but there was only so much she could do. There were far too many of them and K could not hope to deal with them all by himself. Kazé, Sori and Mizu reached the bottom and raised their keyblades, braced for attack, but someone else had got there first.

Where she had appeared from, none of them there had any idea, but her presence was immediately noticeable. A young woman with pink hair, dressed in white, drew a gunblade and began to hack at the Heartless around her. K gave her a nod of recognition and Kisha called out a name from the top of the cliff.

"Lightning!" The woman turned at the mention of her name and called up to Kisha.

"No time for gossip, Kisha. Get shooting." Kisha nodded and reloaded her gunblades. Kazé, Sori and Mizu didn't have much of a job to do it felt. K and Lightning were almost obliterating the Heartless that stepped anywhere near them. Sori had stopped fighting altogether and was now just standing, gawping at Lightning and her skill with her gunblade (something Lightning noticed quickly).

"Hey, girl, get Haley out of here if you're not going to make yourself useful." Sori flushed and raised her Keyblade again.

"Hold on, Haley."

"No need." Sori looked up, following Lightning's raised finger. Approaching from the other end of the battlefield was Lia, leading the rest of their party, Leon, Cid and a dark-haired woman that at a guess must be Yuffie. Lightning rounded on Sori again. "Get her out of here."

"Kazé, can you do that?" asked Sori.

"No," came another voice that definitely didn't belong to her sister. "I'll do it." All three keybladers looked in the direction of the voice. Aerith had joined the battle, armed with a stave and casting a healing spell. A green flower appeared above Haley's head and the girl sat up, bruises gone. "Haley, come here." Haley didn't need telling twice, she ran as fast as she could towards Aerith on the edge of the battlefield. Several soldiers peeled away from their battalion to pursue the girl.

"No!" called Kazé and raised her keyblade. "Freeze!" She had done it on the spur of the moment with barely any idea of how to use magic. Kazé felt cold suddenly as the magic drew energy from her and flowed through her hands into the keyblade. A concentrated beam of ice sprang from the blade and hit the Heartless in the back, spreading over their bodies and slowing them, slowly freezing them. Kazé gasped, suddenly feeling fatigued, and fell to her knees. Mizu skidded over.

"Come on! Get up," he called to his sister. Kazé tried to stand, but she felt unsteady.

"Help me," she whispered to her brother, trying to stamp on a Shadow as it crept up on her. "Is she all right?" Mizu looked up.

"Haley's good!" he said. "She's with Aerith, and they're falling back, and Sori's chopping the Heartless you froze into little pieces." Kazé smiled.

"She would."

"I didn't know you could do magic," said Mizu, hacking blindly at Heartless and they surrounded him and his sister.

"Neither did I," said Kazé. "I guessed it was worth a try. No one told me how tiring it was though." Kisha skidded down the rock face.

"What's going on?"

"Kazé cast a freeze spell and now she's too tired to fight," said Mizu, scanning the battlefield. Heartless were pouring from the shadows like locus. No matter how many anyone killed, they didn't seem to stop coming. "Where is he?" said Mizu to himself. "There must be a General. Where is he?"

"Kazé." Kisha knelt down next to Kazé and pushed a blue bottle into Kazé's hand. "Drink it," she ordered.

"What...?"

"Just do it, and make sure you drink all of it." Kazé did as she was told and pulled off the lid, pressing the bottle to her lips and downing the contents in one. She gasped as she dropped the now-empty bottle. It tasted sweet somehow, but it made her feel so much more awake and warm. Kazé got back to her feet and joined the fight again.

"That was my last ether!" called Kisha. "Don't try another spell."

"OK," yelled Kazé. Mizu was still frantically scanning the battlefield, looking more and more worried. "Mizu, what is it?"

"The Gull Wings said there was a Heartless General here."

"So?"

"So where is he?"

The Stratagist had vanished from the battle completely as soon has he noticed the premature arrival of opposition. Making himself scarce, he melted into the ground, slowly splitting up into his component Darkness and pooling on the floor, slinking towards where the first wave had appeared from: the children and the Soldier. Sneaking further away from the newly arrived Restoration Committee, the Strategist wormed his way further towards the children. The Cetra was there too. He could smell her, it was so full of light it was revolting. The Strategist would have smiled but he could not in his current state. The Cetra would be a perfect way of manipulating the SOLDIER into returning. Now was time to make this battle interesting.

"Go on," said Aerith, giving Haley a slight nudge in the back. "I'm right behind you." Haley nodded and began to run back through the valley and up the side of the cliff where it was the least steep. Aerith headed to follow her but before she had taken three steps something grabbed at her ankle and a small cry of alarm left her lips. Looking down, she saw a boy's hand had reached out of the shadows stretched along the ground, and had gripped her ankle tightly. It was white and thin, with a sleeve that merged with the darkness, striped with black and grey. Aerith struggled, but it was useless. The hand was holding too tightly. By this stage K had noticed what was going in and had abandoned the fight to run to Aerith's aid. At the other end of the field, awareness of Aerith's struggle was also seeping in. Yuffie and Cid were trying to get to Aerith in the quickest way possible, Leon, Lia, Sora, Donald, Goofy and King Mickey trying to fight through the endless streams of Heartless to try and reach her. Riku, Kairi and Axel hadn't quite realised what was happening and were trying to find out and find a way to act on it before the Heartless overwhelmed them. The army was literally unlimited and acted almost as one. Haley turned back to Aerith and called out to her in fright. "GO!" yelled Aerith again. "I'll be back." Haley ran.

"Aerith!" K ran past Mizu in an attempt to reach Aerith, who had tried and failed to relieve the hand's grip on her by magic. Mizu followed his gaze and blanched.

"Oh no," he said. "He's still here all right."

K could not make it through the Heartless. Almost as if some form of bodyguard had sprung up around the position of the hand, the Heartless had become denser and more experienced. K called out to Aerith again as he tried to get through, but the sight that followed made him almost stop.

The hand slipped further out of the shadows, the sleeve of a tattered white coat now visible. Another identical hand gripped at Aerith's legs as a second arm formed out of the Darkness to join it. The head followed: a thin pale face, half-hidden by hair so grey it was almost black that hung down over his right eye so only the left eye was visible, bright and staring yellow. This was followed by shoulders, a torso, an abdomen and legs, until the Heartless General was completely visible. He was young, very young, and by the look of him, probably not even twenty, although he himself had no height on Aerith. The General reached into the air ahead of him and plucked a book from a mist of darkness, emblazoned with the sign of the Heartless. He looked down at Aerith and gestured for two Bookmasters to bar the exit, cutting Aerith completely off.

"You have been unlucky, Miss Gainsborough," he said slowly in a voice of calculating cold. "The death of Zack Fair and now Cloud Strife has not been seen for years. Things haven't gone too well for you, have they?" Aerith stood up.

"You don't scare me," she said. "I made promises to them both. I'll see them both again, and until then, I will make sure they are kept."

"That I don't doubt," said the Strategist, looking slightly bored, "but I have a certain interest in our SOLDIER friend, and I need it more than ever now. Since I don't trust that Nobody any further than I could throw her, I am all the more anxious that mine and Even's pet project does not become jeopardised. We need him here, and if anything was to happen to his favourite Cetra..." The Strategist smiled to himself and flicked through the pages of his book. "I think you get the picture, Miss Gainsborough." Aerith raised her stave but the Strategist took a little leap, hovering a few inches off the air and leaning forward to Aerith, whispering something in her ear.

A tear slid down the girl's face and she stared straight ahead. K, now joined by Kazé, Sori and Mizu, was still forcing a slow path through the teaming Heartless. The Strategist smiled wickedly in a fashion that did not suit his young face.

"Just an illusion," he said and opened the book. He flew almost faster than sight straight towards Aerith, and slammed his palm into her head. Aerith stumbled, the Strategist taking advantage of her temporary immobility to force the Darkness down upon her. Aerith collapsed almost immediately, choking in the darkness, two Bookmasters taking her by the arms and lifting her off the ground. "That should do for now," said the Strategist and slipped rather dramatically through a dark corridor, the Bookmasters with the unconscious Aerith following him.

Aware that their General had left them, the army quickly began to break up, hopping frantically into dark corridors, popping up throughout the field. K broke the lines and ran towards the dark corridor through which the Strategist had vanished, but it closed before he got there. He screamed in frustration and anguish as the three Keybladers made their way up to him. Leon ran up to them.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"They've taken Aerith," said K. "We have to find her."

"She could be anywhere now," said Kisha. "Where do we start looking?"

"The General said he was looking for a SOLDIER," Sori interrupted.

"So he wants Cloud," said Leon. Yuffie and Cid cut their way through the few remaining Heartless and joined them. Yuffie looked shaken (something that didn't seem to work well with her face).

"Aerith..." she said slowly. "OK, so now what? We have to find her." Cid chewed on the end of his cigarette looking strangely blank.

"How?" repeated Kisha. "How do we know where he took her?" Cid took a deep breath in.

"'S gonna sound like a long shot, but... we could try out the program."

"Program?" asked Sori, raising an eyebrow, but she was ignored. Leon nodded.

"The army went with her," he said. "That means they will be easily picked up."

"Then why are we still standing here?" asked K. "For all we know Aerith could be dying."

"He wants your father, K," came a voice from behind them. "He wouldn't be killing her without Cloud." K turned to look at Lightning, who looked as though she was now going to leave.

"I still can't risk that," said K. "I need to go after her."

"No," said Lightning. "Your sister needs you. You can't abandon her now."

"The others can..."

"Just like your father," said Lightning. "But this isn't your fight. Nor mine. We need to guard those on this world first."

"Aerith is from this world."

"But she isn't here any longer. You are better off sending people who don't belong here." Mizu stepped up to Lightning, looking slightly nervous.

"Should we do it?"

"Do you think you should?" Mizu looked back at his sisters and then to the others.

"Yes," he answered, looking back at Lightning. She smiled slightly.

"Then do it," she said. "You have your part to play. I have mine."  
"And what's that?" asked Kazé. There was a silence as Lightning hovered for a while in silence.

"To care for this town," she said. "For my friends. And my sister."

"Sister?" asked Mizu. Lightning nodded.

"Yes, and she needs protection. That's why I fight. She needs to be happy. You understand, K, why you need to look after her. There are still Heartless here, and if you leave her, what guilt you would find yourself in if you came back to find she had been harmed." K bowed his head. "Stay," said Lightning. "You won't regret it." She began to walk away and K turned back to them.

"I know she's right," he said. "But I feel responsible."  
"You couldn't have done anything," said Yuffie, speaking up again. "Don't blame yourself." K sighed.

"It doesn't mean that I will not feel responsible," he said.

K shook his head and looked up as Sora arrived with Riku beside him, both holding their keyblades over their shoulders. Kairi was talking to Donald, Goofy and Mickey a long way off whilst Lia seemed to be trying to translate a hand-gesture-conversation between her and her sister to Axel, to explain what was going on.

"What happened?" asked Riku.

"Where's Aerith?" asked Sora.

"The Heartless took her," said Kisha. "Lightning was just..." She gestured over to where the Soldier had been standing but she had already disappears. "I wish she wouldn't do that."

"Dad," Mizu said slowly, looking up at his father. "The General took Aerith away."

"I say we use the program," said Cid. "I don't think we need a better time for it. General took Aerith and his army went straight after him." Kazé, Sori and Mizu nodded, wondering where this was going. "So we look or huge peaks in Heartless in the last half hour, we should have him."

"Sounds good," said Leon. "And we need to get her out of here."

"I'll find Haley, said K. "Lightning was right. She needs me now."

"I'll come with you," said Kisha, and the two walked off together. Sora looked at Riku.

"So?" Riku nodded. Sora smiled. "We're moving out."

"We'll bring her back soon. I promise," assured Kazé as Cid led them back towards Merlin's house.


	20. Chapter XX: For Those in Peril

Harsh waves crashed against the rocks as the Mother stood on the ship's deck waiting for the _Dutchman_. Everything was working out brilliantly and exactly according to the Guardian's instruction. So far the Nobody had not been here, but she was due to arrive at some point. This was, after all, one of the recommended worlds: one of the ones that the Nobody wanted to visit. Why, she had no idea, but still... It may be interesting to come up against those keybladers. The Mother flexed her claws. It had been a while since she had been on the front lines herself, even though she was considered one of the most vicious Generals. She missed it.

Suddenly, a Dark corridor opened behind her. A few Neoshadows crept out of the darkness and stared back into it, as though expecting something. The Mother approached them and stroked the head of the nearest.

"What is it, baby?" she asked, but her question was made irrelevant before she could receive an answer. The Strategist swept through the opening, followed by two Bookmasters, each holding on to the unconscious woman that hung between them. The Mother folded her arms and looked disapproving. "What do you think you're doing?" she hissed at the Strategist. "This is my turf, Ienzo; so scram before I have to make you." The Strategist looked decidedly apathetic.

"I knew you would not understand," he said.

"And yet you ran straight into my army's world," said the Mother. "What is it?"

"This is the Cetra from Radiant Garden..."

"Yes, I have eyes," sighed the Mother. "Your point?"

"You were not involved in the project, Arlene. How could I expect you to understand the reasoning for the SOLDIER's return."  
"That's it? You went through all that to track down that whiny SOLDIER boy?" asked the Mother. "Explain to me, Ienzo, why are you a General again?" The Strategist chose to ignore the insult and carried on regardless.

"For the time being, we need somewhere for her to be safe."

"And being here has compromised that," pointed out Arlene. "A blind Nobody could find two Heartless Armies in one world."

"What was that about Nobodies?" came a horribly even voice as another Dark Corridor opened and Roxenasha swept onto the ship's deck.

"Nothing..." said the Mother in an unbelievably annoying singsong tone, causing the Strategist to roll his eyes. Roxenasha lowered her hood in crackling electrified petals and spoke.

"Nice to see you both here. I hope you enjoy the party. It seems your antics back in Radiant Garden caused quite a stir, Zexion. Sorry. I mean 'Ienzo'." The Strategist glared at the Nobody with complete and total loathing, but spoke anyway.

"You would not understand."

"I understand more that you think. I know that what you are hiding in the castle needs protection, and so you need to find Cloud Strife to do it for you. You're afraid that I will also damage that chance and so you don't want me to know either. The only thing I'm unsure about is what is the Angel you are so desperate to protect? You could tell me," she added as an afterthought. "I doubt it would be of any use to me." The Mother raised an eyebrow at the Strategist. For a Nobody, this girl was not half bad. Ienzo glared up at them both with more hostility.

"That is considered need-to-know only," he said curtly. Roxenasha raised her hands in surrender.

"All right. I know when I'm not wanted. However, you taking the Cetra girl away from Radiant Garden has actually been more useful to me than I could have anticipated. It keeps me one step ahead." The Fifteenth smiled. "Keep her here. They're looking for her. There are keybladers coming. If you want Cloud to return to Radiant Garden you'd better hope it happens soon. They will be here shortly. I knew that the Red Herring would be useful?"

"Red Herring?" asked the Strategist. Roxenasha laughed.

"Never you mind, kid. Good luck with the plan." She turned and opened a Dark Corridor. "Oh, and Arlene... Once news comes in of those keybladers I want to hear. And if you run into any pirates around here, choose your own path. Now, I'd better be going. I should be in Halloween Town by now. _Revoir_." Then she disappeared.

"I like her," said the Mother decidedly. "For a Nobody she isn't that bad."

"She's like you, you mean," said the Strategist, feeling ruffled. The Mother waved her clawed hand dismissively.

"I'm insulted that you would even imply that," she said haughtily. "She's still a Nobody." The Strategist rolled his eyes.

"So now what?" The Mother shrugged.

"What does that mean? We're so close to taking this World anyway. Oh, how did your battle go?"

"Battle?"

"What? Did she just walk up to you? I bet there was a fight. I'm jealous. I missed it! Hopefully I'm going to have some fun over here."

"Do you know anything more of what's happening?" asked the Strategist. The Mother clicked her claws together.

"I know who's where," she said. "And I have a theory as to why."

"Tell me."

"Say 'please'." The Strategist scowled at her.

"Tell me," he repeated.

"I think she's trying to undermine us with her own Organisation."

"How can she? They're all dead, except..." The Strategist faltered. The Mother raised an eyebrow, looking intrigued.

"'Except'?"

"I saw Lea's Nobody and we know that he was dead. That means that it is possible to bring them back."

"Not without memory," said the Mother.

"And you know that how?"

"Just because I don't have some secret project up at Ansem's Castle with Even does not make me ignorant, you little weasel," snapped the Mother. "She needs memories to bring back a Nobody: memories from a complete being. But there are some who won't be remembered: my Nobody is one, Lumaria's is the other. No one remembers them, therefore she needs Naminé, and Naminé is gone."

"She can't manage it then."

"I don't know," said the Mother. "I've just got the suspicion that we're being played." She gave a short mirthless laugh. "Why am I even considering this? I'm thinking like Even. That's scary. I'll stop. You look after the girl. I'll go and find some pirates." She vanished into thin air, her bodyguard going with her, leaving the Strategist with Aerith as the rain began to fall.


End file.
